Olympic Games 2012: Essex

David Amess: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what assessment the Government Olympic Executive (GOE) has made of the economic effects of the London 2012 Olympics on  (a) Essex and  (b) Southend West constituency since May 2009; what recent discussions she has had with the GOE on this issue; and if she will make a statement.

Tessa Jowell: Further to the answer I gave the hon. Member on 19 May 2009 , Official Report, column 1261W, there has been no further assessment of the economic benefits of London 2012 on Essex and Southend, West.
	I am however delighted that Hadleigh Farm has been chosen to host the Olympic mountain biking competition in 2012.

Christmas

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department has spent on Christmas  (a) cards,  (b) parties and  (c) decorations in the last 12 months.

Peter Hain: In the last 12 months my Department spent £385 on Christmas cards and £1,054 on receptions. We did not purchase any Christmas decorations.

Written Answers: Government Responses

Nick Gibb: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners with reference to the answer of 17 November 2008,  Official Report, column 5W, how many questions for written answer by the hon. Member representing the Church Commissioners  (a) were tabled in 2008 and  (b) have been tabled in 2009 to date; and how many such questions were (i) answered substantively and (ii) not answered on grounds of disproportionate cost.

Stuart Bell: As I said in my answer of 17 November 2008,  Official Report, column 5W, the Church Commissioners' record of questions does not distinguish between those for written and oral answer. However, I believe the total number of questions tabled in 2008 and in 2009 to date to be as follows:
	2008—54 questions
	2009 (to date)—98 questions
	As far as I am aware, during this period I have only been unable to answer one question on grounds of disproportionate cost. This was the question from the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton on 20 April 2009,  Official Report, column 40W. All other questions during this period have received substantive answers.

Parades Commission for Northern Ireland

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff there are in the office of the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland; what information his Department holds on the religious background of its staff; and how much the office spent on  (a) administration and  (b) current public relations in the latest period for which figures are available.

Paul Goggins: The Parades Commission is supported by a Secretariat made up of 11 staff comprising Northern Ireland Office (NIO) home civil servants and seconded Northern Ireland civil servants. In order to comply with their obligations under the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998, the NIO holds details of the community background of the HCS staff while the Northern Ireland civil service holds similar details of the NICS staff.
	The cost of the Secretariat was £364,664 and the Commission spent £61,404.14 on public relations and media in 2007-08.

Departmental Air Travel

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many domestic flights within Great Britain officials from the Department made in 2008-09; and at what cost such flights were taken.

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 9 November 2009
	During 2008-09 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport made a total of 65 domestic flight bookings at a cost of £12,077.00.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average cost of processing a Single Farm Payment scheme claim was in each of the last four years for which figures are available; how many such claims were made in each such year; what the  (a) mean,  (b) median,  (c) minimum and  (d) maximum claim was in each such year; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: holding answer 3 November 2009
	The estimated average administrative cost of processing an individual Single Payment Scheme claim for each of the following years is as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2006-07 713 
			 2007-08 758 
			 2008-09 751 
		
	
	These costs are the direct processing costs and exclude compliance activity and the investment in new systems and improvement projects.
	The NAO Value for Money Report quoted the following figures for the processing cost per claimant calculated on the basis of including IT depreciation, amortisation, contractors, staff costs, accommodation, foreign exchange, communication and other non-IT running costs.
	
		
			   £ 
			 2005-06 1,432 
			 2006-07 1,486 
			 2007-08 1,696 
			 2008-09 1,743 
		
	
	The following table gives the number of SPS claims, as recorded in the NAO Value for Money Report, made in England for scheme years 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
	
		
			  Single payment scheme year  Number of claims 
			 2005 116,474 
			 2006 109,100 
			 2007 106,700 
			 2008 106,500 
		
	
	In an answer given to the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) on 17 November 2008,  Official Report, column 89W, the  (a) mean,  (b) median,  (c) minimum and  (d) maximum claim value for the SPS 2007 was reported as:
	
		
			   £ 
			 Lowest 0.01 
			 Highest 2,191,054.026 
			 Median 4,593.99 
			 Mean 13,920.94 
		
	
	The lowest value is a result of a non-compliance penalty.
	The information in respect of the  (a) mean,  (b) median,  (c) minimum and  (d) maximum claim value in the other scheme years is not readily accessible and I will write with the information, along with an update on SPS 2007 when it is available, with a copy being placed in the House Library.

Cetaceans

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Leominster of 22 July 2008,  Official Report, column 1002W, on cetaceans, what information his Department holds on the recipients of the video and photographic material collected by the Sea Mammal Research Unit;
	(2)  with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Leominster of 22 July 2008,  Official Report, columns 1004-5W on cetaceans, for what reasons evidence of cetaceans being caught in nets collected as part of Government-funded research is not made publicly available; and what account he take of obligations under the EU Habitats Directive on decisions on whether to make available such evidence;
	(3)  with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Leominster of 22 July 2008,  Official Report, columns 1004-5W, on cetaceans, whether  (a) Ministers,  (b) advisers and  (c) officials in his Department have seen the photographic and video evidence of cetaceans being caught in nets collected by the Sea Mammal Research Unit;
	(4)  with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Leominster of 22 July 2008,  Official Report, columns 1004-5W, on cetaceans, whether photographic and video evidence of cetaceans being caught in nets collected by the Sea Mammal Research Unit as part of Government-funded research has been destroyed; and what his policy is on the  (a) retention and  (b) publication of the outcomes of research funded by his Department;
	(5)  with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Leominster of 22 July 2008,  Official Report, columns 1004-5W, on cetaceans, what photographic and video evidence of cetaceans being caught in nets has been collected by the Sea Mammal Research Unit as part of Government-funded research since July 2008; and if he will  (a) obtain and  (b) make publicly available the photographic and video evidence of cetaceans being caught in nets collected by the Sea Mammal Research Unit.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The UK is committed to reducing cetacean by-catch and has put over £2 million from 2000 to date into researching by-catch mitigation measures and monitoring by-catch in the UK fleet. The purpose of the research is to try to identify those fisheries responsible for high levels of cetacean by-catch and test mitigation measures that are effective at deterring cetaceans over the long-term and are safe and cost-effective for the industry. This research is undertaken by the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU).
	My Department does not hold, nor has it been supplied with, video or photographic material as part of the cetacean by-catch mitigation research projects that it has commissioned SMRU to undertake.
	No Minister, official or adviser presently in the Department has seen footage provided by SMRU, and no data is held by the Department on any recipients of video and photographic material.
	Any video or photographic material collected is used by SMRU as a monitoring tool to corroborate findings and to verify observations of the crew and observers on board boats. SMRU does not maintain a photographic database on this issue and all video tapes are re-used once the information on them has been verified. This data are used to produce project reports (defined as project outcomes under the research projects) that are published on the DEFRA website. The outcomes of the research projects are therefore made publicly available.
	The EU Habitats Directive places no obligation on the Department to publish data or research carried out into the incidental capture and killings of cetaceans by fishing activities. However, as outlined above, our research and findings are published. In addition, annual estimates of cetacean by-catch in the UK fleet are published on the DEFRA website.
	As SMRU does not maintain a photographic database and has a policy of reusing video tapes, as in all other years, no video or photographic material collected under the research contract is in existence for the period of July 2008 to date.

Marine Management Organisation

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the Marine and Fisheries Agency has spent on work by  (a) external consultants and  (b) other staff from (i) his Department and (ii) other Government departments in connection with the establishment of the Marine Management Organisation on Tyneside.

Huw Irranca-Davies: Since 1 April 2008, the Marine and Fisheries Agency has spent £631,000 on staff assigned or seconded to the agency from DEFRA or other Departments and £993,000 on external consultants and temporary staff in preparatory work for the establishment of the Marine Management Organisation. These figures exclude staff costs for those involved in the relocation of the Marine and Fisheries Agency headquarters from London to Newcastle as this activity is not directly related to the establishment of the Marine Management Organisation.

Reservoirs: East of England

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many megalitres of water were supplied to water companies serving the East of England from reservoirs in that region in  (a) 1997,  (b) 2002,  (c) 2007 and  (d) the most recent 12 months for which figures are available; and what the average cost of each megalitre was in each such period.

Huw Irranca-Davies: Water is supplied from a number of sources; data is not collected separately for water supplied from reservoirs or for the cost of that supply.
	Each reservoir is different and the cost of supplying a megalitre of water from each of them is not collected by Ofwat. Differences may be due to operational methods, location and requirements to pump.
	Figures for water delivered from all sources are available in the following Ofwat reports:
	1997-98: Report on leakage and water efficiency—page 36;
	2002-03: Security of supply—page 52;
	2007-08: Service and delivery report. Supplementary information—page 43;
	2008-09: Service and delivery report. Supplementary information—page 43.
	All of these reports are available on Ofwat's website at www.ofwat.gov.uk, apart from the 1997-98 report on leakage and water efficiency, a copy of which will be placed in the House Library.

Bus Services: EC Action

Joan Walley: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what representations he has received in respect of the removal of all but international and national coach services from the proposed EU regulation on passenger rights; and if he will make a statement.

Sadiq Khan: The Department for Transport has received a number of representations in respect of the removal of all but international and national coach services from the proposed European Union Regulation on bus and coach passenger rights. The majority were received in response to the Department's consultation on the proposal carried out earlier this year.
	A report, summarising the responses and setting out the Government's position, has been published on the Department's website. Copies are available in the Libraries of the House.

Crossrail Line: Finance

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of the Crossrail project were it to be abandoned in June 2010.

Sadiq Khan: holding answer 9 November 2009
	This Government remain fully committed to delivering the Crossrail Project. Good progress has been made since the launch of the main construction works in May 2009 and continues to accelerate at pace. Our best current estimate of the costs to the public purse of the delivery of the Crossrail project to June 2010 is as follows:
	Project delivery costs—£950 million
	Land/Property acquisition—£700 million
	Total—£1,650 million
	This estimate reflects the latest inflation forecast figures in use by Crossrail Limited. Project delivery costs include the costs of consultancy services procured by the Department for Transport to support the programme.
	It is not possible to produce precise estimates as to overall expenditure if the project were to be cancelled. The costs associated with any cancellation would be substantial but would be contingent on a number of different factors, including contractual commitments and potential income from land no longer required. Naturally, the resolution of contractual arrangements would be a matter of significant commercial sensitivity and economic uncertainty.

Cycling: Finance

David Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what settlements have been designated as cycling communities; and how much funding his Department has allocated to each since their designation.

Sadiq Khan: The Department for Transport funds 18 "Cycle Cities and Towns" through Cycling England. The first phase of the Cycling Demonstration Towns programme, from 2005 to 2008, saw six towns across England receive European levels of funding to significantly increase their cycling levels. Aylesbury, Brighton and Hove, Darlington, Derby, Exeter and Lancaster with Morecambe collectively received over £7 million from Cycling England across three years, plus local match-funding, to deliver a range of measures designed to get more people cycling.
	In June 2008, Cycling England announced Greater Bristol as the England's first official Cycling City, together with a further 11 Cycling Towns across England. The new city and towns, together with the original six, benefit from a share of £55 million of Departmental funding (match funded by the local authority) to pioneer innovative ways to increase cycling in their areas. The table includes £3 million additional funding for 2009-10 announced on 9 November 2009.
	Local authorities will be match funding these grants bringing the total funding to over £100 million.
	
		
			  Cycle city or towns - funding (£) by financial year: 
			  City or Town  Local authority  2005-08 (1 Nov 2005 to 31 March 20 0 8)  2008-09  2009-10  2010-11  Total 2008-11 
			 Aylesbury Buckinghamshire 765,000 461,632 300,000 300,000 1,603,632 
			 Blackpool Blackpool — 400,000 1,295,000 1,285,000 3,715,000 
			 Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove 1,389,500 416,477 655,000 535,000 1,876,477 
			 Cambridge Cambridgeshire — 1,208,4 94 5,285,000 5,085,000 11,578,49 4 
			 Chester Cheshire — 500,000 1,615,000 1,615,000 3,810,000 
			 Colchester Colchester — 242,397 1,075,000 1,065,000 2,382,397 
			 Darlington Darlington 1,148,710 349,999 975,000 965,000 2,289,999 
			 Derby Derby 1,300,000 501,879 500,000 500,000 1,571,879 
			 Exeter Devon 1,559,500 595,958 500,000 500,000 1,770,958 
			 Greater Bristol Bristol City and South Gloucestershire  751,040 760,500 760,500 2,470,040 
			 Lancaster with Morecambe Lancashire 1,309,200 500,000 500,000 500,000 1,700,000 
			 Leighton-Linslade Central Bedfordshire — 567,138 366,000 355,100 1,645,738 
			 Shrewsbury Shropshire — 600,000 665,000 665,000 2,065,000 
			 Southend Southend — 399,760 1,495,000 1,485,000 3,479,760 
			 Southport and Ainsdale Sefton Borough Council — 299,622 825,000 815,000 2,189,622 
			 Stoke Stoke on Trent — 880,001 2,075,000 2,065,000 5,020,001 
			 Woking Surrey — 366,417 823,000 813,000 2,126,417 
			 York York City Council — 535,029 1,620,000 1,655,000 3,810,029 
			 Total  7,471,910 9,575,8 44 21,329,50 0 20,963,60 0 55,105,44 4 
		
	
	 Links to schools
	The Department provides funding to local authorities for the Links to Schools programme through Sustrans. The purpose of the funding is to encourage children to walk and cycle to school. Links to school is a nationwide programme not directly linked to the cycle town projects.
	
		
			  Links to school funding (£) in cycle towns: 
			  Local Authority  2005-6  2006-7  2007-8 
			 Derby City 60,000 156,000 — 
			 Darlington 35,000 — — 
			 Lancaster — — 100,000 
			 Brighton 70,000 — — 
			 Exeter City Council 50,000 38,230 — 
		
	
	 Cycle Training Grants
	For 2009-10 a specific grant was set up for cycle training in cycle city and towns. Before that year, cycle towns could not bid for cycle training funding.
	
		
			  Cycle demonstration towns cycle training funding 2009-10 
			   Grant award (£)  Number of training places 
			 Aylesbury 40,000.00 1,000 
			 Blackpool 32,400.00 900 
			 Brighton and Hove 30,000.00 1,000 
			 Cambridge 22,480.00 562 
			 Chester Council 28,320.00 708 
			 Colchester 27,360.00 684 
			 Darlington 16,920.00 423 
			 Derby 80,000.00 2,000 
			 Exeter 21,440.00 536 
			 Lancaster 15,000.00 375 
			 Leighton Linslade 63,000.00 1,575 
			 Southend on Sea 31,104.00 972 
			 Southport 25,600.00 640 
			 Stoke 72,000.00 1,800 
			 York 16,320.00 480 
		
	
	 Local Transport Plan funding
	The Department also allocates integrated transport block and highways maintenance funding to local transport authorities for general capital investment in transport. This funding is not ring-fenced and local authorities have discretion to spend their allocations in line with their priorities.

Departmental Air Travel

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many first-class flights were taken by each Minister in his Department in 2008-09; and what the  (a) origin,  (b) destination and  (c) cost was of each such flight.

Chris Mole: No first class air travel was undertaken by Department for Transport Ministers in 2008-09. All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code. The annual list of Ministers' overseas travel costing more than £500 for 2008-09 can be accessed at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/226022/travel_2008_2009.pdf

Departmental Data Protection

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether his Department's information assurance procedures have been subject to an independent audit.

Chris Mole: Three of the Department for Transport's Agencies—the Driving Standards Agency, the Vehicle Operator Services Agency and the Driver and the Vehicle Licensing Agency have been subject to independent assessment by CESG (the national technical authority for information assurance), of their information assurance procedures. The central Department will be subject to an independent assessment as part of its annual reporting processes to Cabinet Office in 2009-10.

Departmental Energy

Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the  (a) energy rating and  (b) energy band of each building occupied by his Department and its agencies was in each of the last five years.

Chris Mole: The Department for Transport has 43 buildings that are required to report the energy rating under the Display Energy Certificate scheme introduced by the Department for Communities and Local Government in October 2008. The performance of the buildings covered under that scheme is shown in the table:
	
		
			2009  2008 
			  Property centre  Town  Band  Rating  Band  Rating 
			 DFT—British Transport Police London Not due Not due E 114 
			 DFT—British Transport Police London Not due Not due G 229 
			 DFT—British Transport Police London Not due Not due G 271 
			 DFT—British Transport Police Tadworth Not due Not due E 118 
			 DFT—DFT Central Aldershot Not due Not due C 59 
			 DFT—DFT Central Aldershot Not due Not due D 93 
			 DFT—DFT Central London Pending Pending G 191 
			 DFT—DFT Central London Pending Pending G 218 
			 DFT—DFT Central London Pending Pending n/a n/a 
			 DFT—DVLA Bexley Pending Pending G 200 
			 DFT—DVLA Borehamwood C 59 C 59 
			 DFT—DVLA Bournemouth C 65 C 70 
			 DFT—DVLA Chelmsford Pending Pending E 125 
			 DFT—DVLA Exeter Pending Pending G 200 
			 DFT—DVLA London D 77 D 88 
			 DFT—DVLA Manchester C 51 G 200 
			 DFT—DVLA Northampton Pending Pending G 200 
			 DFT—DVLA Nottingham D 79 G 200 
			 DFT—DVLA Preston E 101 D 85 
			 DFT—DVLA Swansea Pending Pending E 125 
			 DFT—DVLA Swansea Pending Pending E 125 
			 DFT—DVLA Swansea Pending Pending E 125 
			 DFT—DVLA Swansea Pending Pending G 177 
			 DFT—DVLA Swansea G 198 G 212 
			 DFT—DVLA Theale E 111 E 118 
			 DFT—DSA Cardington Pending Pending F 132 
			 DFT—DSA Newcastle upon Tyne Pending Pending G 207 
			 DFT—DSA Nottingham Pending Pending G 200 
			 DFT—GCDA London Not due Not due G 241 
			 DFT—HA Birmingham D 93 n/a n/a 
			 DFT—HA Bristol D 92 n/a n/a 
			 DFT—HA Godstone B 42 n/a n/a 
			 DFT—HA Leeds Pending Pending F 134 
			 DFT—HA Newton-Le-Willows B 41 n/a n/a 
			 DFT—HA Potters Bar D 78 n/a n/a 
			 DFT—HA Wakefield C 55 n/a n/a 
			 DFT—MCA Cardiff Pending Pending E 109 
			 DFT—MCA Southampton D 84 F 149 
			 DFT—VOSA Bristol Pending Pending F 127 
			 DFT—VOSA Bristol Pending Pending F 127 
			 DFT—VOSA Bristol Pending Pending F 127 
			 DFT—VOSA Leeds Pending Pending E 114 
			 DFT—VCA Bristol Pending Pending n/a n/a

Departmental Procurement

Philip Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether there has been any nugatory cost to his Department and its agencies on procurement under tender because the tender process had been cancelled prior to the award of the contract in the last 12 months.

Chris Mole: There have been a very small number of instances during the last 12 months where tendering exercises have been cancelled prior to the award of the contract and thereby costs have been incurred with no contract awarded. For the Department for Transport, this would normally amount to the effort expended on the procurement exercise before its cancellation. The precise number and costs involved are not recorded.
	The occasion where the Department has incurred nugatory costs was for the procurement of a fleet of new build diesel rolling stock which ceased in July, as it was superseded by the Government's announcement on rail electrification. The costs incurred for the use of external advisors was £1.6 million.
	The Department has not reimbursed any supplier during the last 12 months for costs that they have incurred as a result of tendering for any contract advertised by the Department where the award process for that contract was subsequently cancelled.

Driving Tests: Motorcycles

Charles Kennedy: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many Driving Standards Agency occasional use test centres offer module two of the new two-part motorcycle test; and how many such tests have been  (a) requested and  (b) conducted at each centre since the revised arrangements came into effect in April 2009.

Paul Clark: The Driving Standards Agency offers Module 2 motorcycle tests at 33 occasional use centres. The number of Module 2 motorcycle tests booked and conducted at those centres, for the period 27 April to 5 November 2009, is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Test centre  Module 2 tests booked  Module 2 tests conducted 
			 Alness 0 0 
			 Ballachulish 0 0 
			 Ballater 0 0 
			 Banff 0 0 
			 Benbecula Island 0 0 
			 Berwick-on-Tweed 71 17 
			 Brodick (Isle of Arran) 0 0 
			 Buckie 0 0 
			 Campbeltown 0 0 
			 Fort William 0 0 
			 Gairloch 0 0 
			 Golspie 0 0 
			 Grantown-On-Spey 0 0 
			 Huntly 0 0 
			 Inveraray (Argyll) 0 0 
			 Inverurie (Grampian) 0 0 
			 Island of Mull (Salen) 0 0 
			 Islay Island 0 0 
			 Isle of Skye (Portree) 0 0 
			 Isle of Tiree 0 0 
			 Kingussie 0 0 
			 Kyle of Lochalsh 0 0 
			 Lairg 0 0 
			 Lerwick (Shetland) 3 3 
			 Llandrindod Wells 104 18 
			 Lochgilphead 0 0 
			 Mallaig 0 0 
			 Oban 0 0 
			 Orkney (Kirkwall) 26 10 
			 Stomoway (Lewis) 0 0 
			 Stranraer 0 0 
			 Thurso 0 0 
			 Ullapool 0 0

Government Departments: Official Cars

Robert Goodwill: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the Government Car and Despatch Agency of the implementation of new working time regulations.

Paul Clark: holding answer 9 November 2009
	The implementation costs to the Government Car Agency of introducing new working practices to meet its obligations under the Working Time Regulations 1998 are estimated to be £161,000.
	The new working practices will reduce the cost to the taxpayer. Under the new system, drivers work a single daily shift of 10 hours. Ministers continue to have one dedicated driver (apart from those in the high security category), but any ministerial driving outside of standard hours is met, on demand, by the Government Car and Despatch Agency's low carbon taxi service. This is a better deal for tax payers than the previous arrangements.

M42: Cameras

Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many fixed cameras are in use on the M42 motorway; for what purposes such cameras are used; and for what reason this number of cameras is deemed necessary.

Chris Mole: holding answer 9 November 2009
	There are 303 permanent cameras installed on the M42. These are broken down as follows:
	47 'pan and tilt' cameras—these are used by the Highways Agency's Regional Control Centre (RCC) for general monitoring of the traffic flows and incidents on the motorway;
	192 fixed cameras installed on gantries throughout the 'Managed Motorway' section between Junctions 3a and 7. These are used by the RCC for safety purposes to monitor traffic flows within the Managed Motorway section, which includes hard shoulder running and use of the Emergency Refuge Areas; and
	64 fixed safety cameras used by the police to monitor compliance with speed limits within the Managed Motorway section.
	The section of M42 between Junctions 3a and 7 was used as a pilot for the Managed Motorways programme and the number of cameras installed reflects the need to carefully monitor performance for the collation of data to inform future similar schemes.

Palm Oil

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport when he last discussed the use of sustainable palm oil with  (a) Ministerial colleagues,  (b) representatives of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil,  (c) representatives of the palm oil industry,  (d) representatives of environmental non-governmental organisations and  (e) officials of other Government departments; and if he will make a statement.

Sadiq Khan: Sustainable biofuels were discussed at a ministerial level during the negotiations on the renewable energy directive (RED) and this engagement will continue as the UK develops proposals to implement the directive.
	Officials across Government also meet regularly to discuss all biofuels, and the Department for Transport continues to engage with a wide variety of stakeholders from industry and NGOs to discuss sustainability issues.
	The Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA) (a NDPB) who is the administrators of the renewable transport fuels obligations have met with UK based suppliers of biofuel to encourage the sourcing of certified sustainable palm and have attended palm oil events in Kuala Lumpur this year. The RFA is preparing a short report on the use of palm oil as a biodiesel feedstock as part of their annual report to Parliament in January.

Departmental Energy

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the  (a) energy rating and  (b) energy band of each building occupied by his Department and its agencies was in each year for which figures are available.

Michael Foster: The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) publish central Government Departments' Display Energy Certificate (DEC) operational ratings on a building by building level twice a year. The most recent data, published on 31 July 2009, contains DEC data up to and including 28 February. Data relating to the month ending 30 September will be published on 18 December. This is available online at:
	www.ogc.gov.uk/sustainability_programme_progress

Syria: Overseas Aid

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance his Department has provided to Syria  (a) directly and  (b) through multi-lateral agencies for assistance to Palestinian refugees in each year since 2002.

Michael Foster: Department for International Development (DFID) support to Palestinian refugees in Syria is through the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) who assist more than 450,000 refugees providing them with education, health care, social support and microfinance opportunities. Most of our assistance is core funding to UNRWA's budget of which approximately 8.5 per cent. is spent in Syria. An annual breakdown is in the following table. In 2007 the UK committed £100 million over five years in core funding to UNRWA.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   UK funding to UNRWA general fund (calendar year)  Estimated UNRWA spend in Syria (per calendar year) 
			 2002 13 1.10 
			 2003 15.5 1.31 
			 2004 8.5 0.72 
			 2005 13 1.10 
			 2006 16.2 1.37 
			 2007 15.6 1.33 
			 2008 19 1.61 
			 2009 20 1.70 
		
	
	In addition to this funding, the Department for International Development provided a total of £2.6 million between 2001 and 2006 to help develop UNRWA's education system by strengthening management from headquarter to school level. This support helped improve the education provided to all Palestinian refugee children across the region, including in Syria.

Zimbabwe

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his most recent assessment is of the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe.

Gareth Thomas: The humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe remains challenging:
	Cholera is always present in Zimbabwe and, with the start of the rainy season, a rise in numbers of new cases has already been reported. However, the international community has worked to strengthen health services and provide essential repairs to water and sanitation systems. We are hopeful that the outbreak will not be on the same scale as last year.
	The food situation is better than last year following an improved harvest but there will still be a need for extensive international support. The UN estimates that 2.8 million people will require food assistance in early 2010 (compared to around seven million in early 2009).
	Farm invasions continue and the risk of displacement for remaining farm-worker families remains a concern.
	There has been an isolated outbreak of measles despite successful vaccination and we are watching the situation carefully.
	The Department for International Development (DFID) has provided £4.7 million to UNICEF to help prepare for any cholera outbreak and is in discussions with other donors about the best way to assist in the coming months. However, humanitarian support is not the long-term solution to Zimbabwe's problems, only a resolution of outstanding political issues and progress on much needed reform will ensure that Zimbabwe can feed and provide for the needs of its people.

Council Tax: Valuation

Bob Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Valuation Office Agency takes account of reputational issues connected with a dwelling when valuing it for council tax valuation and revaluation purposes.

Ian Pearson: The basis of valuation for council tax is set out in The Council Tax (Situation and Valuation of Dwellings) Regulations 1992 (SI No. 550) as amended by the Council Tax (Situation and Valuation of Dwellings) (Amendment) Order 1994.
	Reputational issues would only be taken into account to the extent that they affect open market value at the relevant valuation date and existed when a property is first entered into a council tax valuation list.

Departmental Rail Travel

Paul Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 19 October 2009,  Official Report, column 1285W, on departmental rail travel, how many  (a) journeys were paid for and  (b) people travelled in each year; whether any nugatory expenditure was incurred in each year; and if he will make a statement.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: This information is not normally, held, because the Treasury's accounting system records the costs of travel but not the number or type of tickets bought. However, the Treasury's travel management company provided information on the number and type of tickets purchased through them covering travel by all members of the Department.
	In 2008 09 191 members of staff took first class rail journeys. Information on the number of travellers in 2007-08 and 2006-07, the number of first class rail journeys taken by departmental staff and whether any nugatory expenditure was incurred in all three years is not available within the disproportionate costs threshold.

Economic Policy

John Hemming: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the data on which the Treasury Economic Model is based.

Ian Pearson: The Treasury Public Model was last issued in April 2008. The Treasury macroeconomic model is principally a model of the economic activity described and recorded in the National Accounts published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The model documentation identifies sources for all data on which the model is based, and the data are publicly available from the ONS. An electronic copy of the macroeconomic model documentation for the March 2008 Treasury Public Model has been deposited in the House of Commons Library.

Housing Benefit: Travelling People

Bob Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the policy is of the Valuation Office Agency's Rent Service on whether Traveller pitches which do not have planning permission may be rated for local housing allowance.

Ian Pearson: The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) was introduced nationally on 7 April 2008 and is applicable to new applicants for housing benefit or for claimants moving property, however there are exemptions to the LHA and these include pitches or caravans. Therefore any application to the local authority for housing benefit will be subject to a referral to the rent officer and for the rent officer to make a determination of a reasonable rent for housing benefit subsidy purposes. The amount of any award for housing benefit will rest with the local authority.
	The rent officer's duty is to determine the reasonableness of the rent being charged for the property in the referral. It is the responsibility of the local authority to assess housing benefit for individual claimants.

Taxation

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of receipts to the Exchequer were received from those  (a) of working age and  (b) over retirement age in payment of (i) income tax and (ii) inheritance tax in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: Information on age of taxpayer based on receipts is not readily available as employers' PAYE payments are made in aggregate. However, available information on tax liability for 2009-10 (a total of £141 billion) suggests that around 9 per cent. is in respect of people of state pension age by the end of the year, with the remainder for people of working age. This estimate is based on the Survey of Personal Incomes of which 2006-07 is the latest available, and projected in line with Budget 2009 assumptions.
	Age breakdowns of Inheritance Tax received from estates (£2,769 million in 2008-09) can be provided only in terms of the age at death of the deceased. The proportions arising from estates where the age at death was under and over state Pension Age are 5 per cent. and 95 per cent. respectively. No information is held on the ages of beneficiaries of estates. Inheritance Tax received from settlers and trustees of discretionary trusts (£70 million in 2008-09) can not be broken down by age.

Taxation

David Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of the merits of introducing new mechanisms for settling tax liabilities;
	(2)  what mechanisms HM Revenue and Customs has in place to assess the cost-effectiveness of different methods of debt collection;
	(3)  what recent progress HM Revenue and Customs has made on its risk-profiling work in relation to tax debt.

Stephen Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the Treasury Minute response to the twenty sixth report of the Committee of Public Accounts (HM Revenue and Customs—management of tax debt) laid before the House on 28 October 2009, available at:
	http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm77/7717/7717.pdf
	Unfortunately the previous answer included an incorrect figure for the amount spent in 2007-08. This figure was provided to HM Treasury by its travel management company and should have been shown as £330.000. I apologise for the error.

Taxation

David Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the level of compatibility of corporation tax regimes in the Crown Dependencies with the EU code of conduct on taxation.

Stephen Timms: The EU Code of Conduct Group has to date, not referred the current Corporate Tax Regimes of the Crown Dependencies for assessment under the criteria of the EU Code of Conduct.
	Recently, the UK has had discussions with its Crown Dependencies about their long-term sustainability which take account of the emerging global consensus among G20 countries on a range of international financial issues. These discussions are continuing.

Valuation Office: Training

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what courses representatives of the Valuation Office Agency have attended at the National School of Government in the last 36 months; and at what cost to the public purse in each case.

Ian Pearson: The following table shows the courses representatives of the Valuation Office Agency have attended at the National School of Government in the last 36 months and at what cost to the public purse in each case.
	
		
			   Course  Charge (£) 
			  2006 Prince 2 For Practitioners 1,975.00 
			  Prince 2 For Practitioners 1,975.00 
			  Managing Project Risk 875.00 
			  Prince 2 For Practitioners 1,975.00 
			  Analysis and Use of Evidence for SCS 140.00 
			  Senior Professional Administration Training 850.00 
			
			  2007 Appearing Before the Select Committee 1,550.00 
			  Senior Professional Administration Training 850.00 
			  Top Management Forum (Seminar 4) 85.00 
			  Introduction to Programme Management 410.00 
			  Management of Risk 1,875.00 
			  Management of Risk 1,875.00 
			  Project Manager's Foundation 1,130.00 
			  Top Management Forum (Seminar 6) 85.00 
			  Leadership and Resilience 450.00 
			  Project Manager's Foundation (exam resit) 150.00 
			  Programme and Project Support Office 900.00 
			  Programme and Project Support Office 900.00 
			  Baseline Personnel Security 395.00 
			  Baseline Personnel Security 395.00 
			  Programme and Project Support Office (cancellation fee) 90.00 
			  Programme and Project Support Office 900.00 
			  Programme and Project Support Office 900.00 
			  Prince 2 For Practitioners 1,975.00 
			  Recording Information on COINS 130.00 
			  Recording Information on COINS 130.00 
			  Senior Professional Administration Training 1,150.00 
			  Financial Management at Grade 7 895.00 
			
			 2008 Getting To Grips With Workforce Planning 375.00 
			  Prince 2 For Practitioners 1,975.00 
			  Senior Professional Administration Training 1,150.00 
			  Measuring Organisational Performance 2,500.00 
			  Strategic Communication Planning 1,175.00 
			  Unit 3 of Chartered Management Institute Diploma 150.00 
			  Unit 7 of Chartered Management Institute Diploma 550.00 
			  Unit 5 of Chartered Management Institute Diploma 250.00 
			  Government Finance and Accounting 890.00 
			  Project Management Essentials 1,300.00 
			  Prince 2 For Practitioners 2,250.00 
			  The Challenge of Delivery 425.00 
			  Creating an Innovative Culture 490.00 
			  Staff Inspection Techniques Training 1,950.00 
			  Programme and Project Support Office 980.00 
			  Best Practice for Audit Committees 350.00 
			  Best Practice for Audit Committees 350.00 
			  Getting To Grips With Workforce Planning 395.00 
			  Strategic Communication Planning 1,200.00 
			
			  2009 Senior Finance Programme Public Expenditure 870.00 
			  Public Accountability Tailored Event 750.00 
			  Changing Culture, Strengthening Delivery 245.00 
			  Training for NDPB Board Members 16,761.90 
			  Programme and Project Support Office 980.00 
			  Introduction to Public Accountability 665.00 
			  Baseline Personnel Security 355.00 
			  Unit 12 of Chartered Management Institute Diploma 580.00 
			  Introduction to Purchasing 990.00

British Values Roadshow

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate has been made of the cost of planned British values roadshow and consultation events.

Michael Wills: The Government have held a series of five deliberative events on Identity, Values and a possible Bill of Rights and Responsibilities during October. Two further events, both of which will cover a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities and a written constitution, will take place on 21 and 28 November. There will be a National Deliberative Event in the new year.
	It is not possible to finalise the actual costs until all of the events have taken place, however, it is anticipated that this will come to less than £1 million in total.

Human Trafficking: Proceeds of Crime

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many confiscation orders against people convicted of human trafficking offences have been made in each of the last three years; and how much money has been realised from them.

Claire Ward: The available information is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Total confiscation orders made  against offenders convicted of human t rafficking, since 2005 
			   Total confiscation orders  Total amount (£) 
			 2005 0 0 
			 2006 3 5,940 
			 2007 6 9,120 
			  Notes: 1. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. 2. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.  Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice 
		
	
	Data for 2008 will be available once 'Sentencing Statistics 2008' is published in early 2010.
	The figures shown here relate solely to cases recorded on the Ministry of Justice courts proceedings database where: an offence of Human trafficking was the principal offence for which the offender was sentenced and where the confiscation order was made at the point of sentence. It is possible that a confiscation order can be made in a separate court appearance following sentence, these cases are not included in this answer and it is likely the true number of confiscation orders may be higher than is presented here.
	The amount realised from these confiscation orders could only be obtained at disproportionate cost by matching individual case files with records from the court proceedings database.

Prisoner Escapes

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 26 October 2009,  Official Report, column 90W, on prisoner escapes, what the name is of the person convicted of murder who is unlawfully at large; on what date his or her  (a) offence and  (b) conviction took place; what the length of his or her sentence was; on what date he or she absconded, and from which prison; whether he or she was on any form of work or temporary release; what his or her security classification was at the time of absconding; and whether he or she had been subject to any punishments for breach of prison discipline while in prison.

Jack Straw: The prisoner serving a sentence of murder that remains unlawfully at large was sentenced to life imprisonment on 31 October 1989 for a single offence of murder committed on 27 August 1988. He did not have a history of violent offending before this offence. He was re-categorised as category D and allocated to Ford open prison in February 2009. Prisoners located in open conditions have been risk assessed and categorised as being of low risk to the public and as such he is not considered to be dangerous. He absconded from HM Prison Ford in August 2009. He was not on temporary release licence when he absconded. He was found guilty of a total of 39 disciplinary offences during his 20 years of imprisonment, most of which were for disobeying lawful orders or for being abusive towards staff. All of these would have been subject to disciplinary punishment.
	It is obviously in general much in the public interest that the names of those escaping and absconding should be made public, but their can be operational or other reasons for not doing so in specific cases. I will write to the hon. Member with the name of the offender when the police have confirmed that there is no difficulty in placing this in the public domain.
	Over 96 per cent. of prisoners who abscond are re-captured and returned to custody. On re-capture the prisoner will be returned to a closed prison and referred to the police for consideration for prosecution for having been unlawfully at large.

Prisoners: Females

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his policy is on reducing the number of women in prison.

Maria Eagle: The Government are committed to diverting vulnerable women, who are not serious or dangerous offenders, from custody. We have provided £15.6 million of new funding over two years from 2009-11 for the provision of additional services in the community for women offenders and women at risk of offending.
	Many female offenders have an acute combination of complex issues that lie behind their offending and prison does not provide an effective way to address these problems. The Government have already allocated £3.1 million from this fund and last week allocated a further £6.8 million to third sector providers, to help develop a network of provisions across the country to tackle the cause of offending behaviour for women who are not a danger to the public, both pre and post conviction.

Prisons: Freedom of Information

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has plans to extend to private prisons the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Michael Wills: On 16 July, the Government published the response to its consultation on extending the Freedom of Information Act by means of a section 5 order. It noted that it was not minded to include private prisons in an initial order. However, the Government have made it clear it intends to keep the extension of the Act under review.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of  (a) sleeping bags and  (b) other kit for troops on active operations in Afghanistan.

Quentin Davies: The Defence Clothing Team (DCT) provides a range of environmental clothing, including boots, to meet both summer and winter deployments. All armed forces personnel receive a deployment pack, commonly known as the 'black bag' worth £3,000, which provides sufficient clothing and personal equipment to carry out combat operations.
	The 'black bag' includes a warm weather sleeping bag for use in the summer conditions found in Afghanistan. In addition, troops are issued a temperate sleeping bag as part of their standard kit issue. Experience has shown the temperate sleeping bag to be capable in temperatures down to around -30°C. Clothing and sleeping bags are designed to be used as layered systems in order to achieve the desired protection and will not work as effectively if not worn as a system.
	Additionally, those personnel who are in Afghanistan during the colder months receive extra equipment in their deployment pack, such as 'softee' thermal jackets and trousers, cold weather socks, gloves, headwear, windproof trousers and jackets and cold weather boots. This is the equipment used by our commando forces in Arctic terrain. When worn with the CS95 ensemble, this equipment provides suitable environmental protection for the cold weather temperatures that occur in the winters in Afghanistan.
	The DCT and senior military staff regularly visit theatre to assess equipment and continue to seek further improvements. The DCT aims to visit every six months to cover summer and winter tours. The last winter visit took place in December 2008.

Armed Forces: Equipment

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the  (a) required and  (b) actual number is of (i) pieces of night vision equipment, (ii) pieces of body armour and (iii) small arms in the army.

Quentin Davies: In terms of night vision optics, the Army currently has 14,634 Common Weapon Sights, 1,777 Maxikite 1 and 4,388 Maxikite 2. Some of these will be upgraded under the Future Infantry System Technology (FIST) programme designed to further improve the equipment available to the infantry soldier. The remainder will then be redistributed to those units and individuals employed in other roles where these capabilities are either non-existent or in short supply. The FIST requirement for night vision optics is shown in the following table. Deliveries of this new equipment are due to begin in September 2010.
	
		
			  Sight  Future requirement 
			 Common Weapon Sight II 2,471 
			 Thermal Weapon Sight (VIPIR 3) 4,331 
			 Maxikite 2 Mk 2 1,705 
			 Helmet Mounted Night Vision System II 10,835 
		
	
	Our body armour and small arms holdings and requirements are provided in the following tables.
	
		
			  Body armour type  Current fleet size  Current endorsed requirement 
			 Enhanced Combat Body Armour 103,604 32,000 
			 Osprey 32,000 11,362 
			 Osprey Assault (1)5,000 10,000 
			 (1) The second tranche of 5,000 Osprey Assault is due to be delivered in the first quarter of next year. 
		
	
	
		
			  Weapon  Current fleet size  Requirement 
			 SA80 A2 (L85A2) (Defence Nos) 176,000 138,570 
			 LSW (L86A2) 11,000 5,000 
			 Pistol L9 Browning (Defence Nos) 24,964 25,000 
			 SA80 Carbine (L22A2) 1,546 1,600 
			 LMG 4,309 4,933 
		
	
	None of the figures above includes equipment procured for use in Afghanistan through the urgent operational requirement process. I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.

Armed Forces: Housing

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of the proceeds of the sale of Defence Estates stock has been used to upgrade the estate in each year since Defence Estates was established; what proportion of the defence estate has been upgraded in each year over that period; when he expects the upgrading of the entire estate to Grade 1 standard to be completed; and if he will make a statement.

Kevan Jones: As part of the periodic spending review, the Department agrees disposal targets with HM Treasury and a net departmental budget is set accordingly. There is no direct link between the amount spent on upgrading the estate to the disposal of surplus land and buildings. Exceptionally, the receipts from the disposal of Chelsea Barracks were ring-fenced for investment in service accommodation. Internal budgets are agreed on the basis of Defence priorities.
	From 1 April 1998 to 31 March 2009, the Department achieved disposal receipts totalling £3.4 billion. In 2008-09, the Department spent some £3 billion on the estate including investment to upgrade both the technical estate and accommodation.
	The following tables illustrate what proportion of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) has been upgraded as well as how much new or improved Single Living Accommodation (SLA) has been delivered since 2001. Figures prior to 2001 are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Properties upgraded to highest standard for condition, SFA (GB) 
			   Number 
			 2001-02 2,700 
			 2002-03 3,870 
			 2003-04 1,440 
			 2004-05 2,610 
			 2005-06 1,705 
			 2006-07 1,215 
			 2007-08 637 
			 2008-09 726 
			 Total 14,903 
		
	
	
		
			  New or improved bed-spaces delivered, SLA 
			   Number 
			 2001-02 n/a 
			 2002-03 988 
			 2003-04 2,915 
			 2004-05 5,611 
			 2005-06 5,539 
			 2006-07 5,822 
			 2007-08 6,905 
			 2008-09 7,910 
			 Total 35,690 
		
	
	Most of the 14,000 SFA that we have brought up to Standard 1 for Condition since 2001 have been upgrades of existing properties rather than the construction of new properties. 90 per cent. of SFA is now at the two highest standards for condition. Our aim is to ensure that by March 2013 very little, if any, of the occupied SFA estate should be below Standard 2 for Condition. Subject to changing demand for SFA in the future and the availability of funding, we aspire that by 2020 all occupied properties in the UK will be at Standard 1 for Condition.
	However, the majority of the 35,000 SLA delivered since 2003 are newly constructed en-suite accommodation. A further 20,000 bed-spaces will be delivered by 2013.

Armed Forces: Housing

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 3 November 2009,  Official Report, column 831W, on armed forces: housing, what the average monthly rent for properties in the Greater London area rented under the substitute single living accommodation scheme is.

Kevan Jones: holding answer 9 November 2009
	As at 23 October 2009, the average monthly rent for substitute service single accommodation properties in the Greater London area was £1,121.37. Utility bills are paid by the Ministry of Defence. Service personnel can claim the following allowances to assist with the cost of living in the Greater London Area: Food and Incidental Allowance, Get You Home Travel, Home to Duty Travel and Recruitment and Retention Allowance (London). Service personnel are reimbursed the cost of telephone line installations and monthly line rentals.

Armed Forces: Mental Health Services

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what research his Department has  (a) commissioned,  (b) funded and  (c) undertaken on the mental health needs of service personnel and veterans since 2001; and what his most recent estimate is of the number of service personnel and veterans with such needs.

Kevan Jones: MOD fully supports the need for high quality research which examines the mental health of service personnel and veterans. We have funded the Kings College London Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) to undertake major research into the health of those who have served on recent operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of their findings have already been published in the peer-reviewed medical literature, including major pieces of work published in 2006. Within KCMHR, the Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health (ACDMH) has been established as an in-house mental health research resource which is looking into a variety of smaller scale aspects of dealing with the mental health of service personnel.
	The KCMHR and ACDMH website can be found at the following link:
	www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr
	This contains links to a wide range of individual research papers. The 2006 KCMHR 10-year report provides a particularly useful summary of research during the first 10 years since its foundation in 1996.
	More recent research includes a paper on the prevalence of common mental disorders and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the UK Military (Iversen et al., BMC Psychiatry 2009, 9:68). This concluded that the rate of common mental disorders in the sample was 27.2 per cent.; this figure is in keeping with a substantial review of European adults, carried out in 2005, that also found 27 per cent. suffered with a common mental disorder. This study confirmed previous findings which show that depression and alcohol abuse are the most common mental disorders in the UK military, not post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as previously assumed by some commentators. The paper's results support MOD's provision of a compressive mental health service rather than a service which is overly focussed on treating PTSD.
	Research commissioned from other academic institutions includes an investigation by Manchester university into the levels of suicide amongst those leaving the UK armed forces over the period 1996-2005, compared with matched personnel remaining in service and the general population. This work was published in the peer-reviewed journal Public Library of Science (PloS) Medicine in March 2009. The results showed that overall rates of suicide of those who left were little different from the equivalent serving or civilian general populations. We also commissioned research into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from Royal Holloway and University College London, comparing immediate and delayed onset PTSD in military veterans. The study looked at clinical course, symptoms, risk factors, stressors and disabling effects; we understand its findings will be published in peer reviewed literature shortly.
	Papers currently undergoing peer review or awaiting publication address further the mental health of service personnel and veterans, in both the National Service era and post-National Service. We shall continue to support well-founded research into these issues, to inform our policies to provide care for those whose mental health has been affected by serving in the armed forces.

Armed Forces: North West

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people have joined the  (a) army,  (b) navy and (c) RAF from (i) the North West, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) Chorley in each year since 1997.

Kevan Jones: This information is not held in the format requested, however the following table provides details of those recruited through the Armed Forces Careers Offices (AFCO) in Lancashire, to give an indication of armed forces recruitment in this area.
	This information will not provide a comprehensive picture of the recruitment of individuals who live in Lancashire as it does not include those Lancashire residents who may have chosen to join through AFCOs elsewhere or through some other means, such as the internet. In addition, RN/RM and Army officer figures are not provided as these officers tend to be recruited through a wider variety of means and any information provided would not be meaningful in this context.
	Data for the RN and the RAF for financial years before 2003-04 are not available as new IT systems have since been introduced.
	
		
			  Financial year  Preston (Tri-Service AFCO)  Blackburn (Army AFCO)  Blackpool (Army AFCO)  Burnley (Army AFCO) 
			  1997-98 
			 Army 158 109 136 131 
			  
			  1998-99 
			 Army 145 96 159 135 
			  
			  1999-2000 
			 Army 152 101 139 154 
			  
			  2000-01 
			 Army 117 93 126 94 
			  
			  2001-02 
			 Army 100 95 99 88 
			  
			  2002-03 
			 Army 128 114 114 107 
			  
			  2003-04 
			 RN/RM 89 — — — 
			 Army 114 85 94 103 
			 RAF 112 — — — 
			  
			  2004-05 
			 RN/RM 66 — — — 
			 Army 83 72 86 88 
			 RAF 70 — — — 
			  
			  2005-06 
			 RN/RM 76 — — — 
			 Army 132 122 103 108 
			 RAF 36 — — — 
			  
			  2006-07 
			 RN/RM 86 — — — 
			 Army 119 115 107 108 
			 RAF 59 — — — 
			  
			  2007-08 
			 RN/RM 77 — — — 
			 Army 140 71 69 103 
			 RAF 82 — — — 
			  
			  2008-09 
			 RN/RM 107 — — — 
			 Army 130 70 95 96 
			 RAF 170 — — —

Armed Forces: Training

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the  (a) required and  (b) actual trained strength is of each (i) service and (ii) rank in the armed forces.

Bill Rammell: The latest available figures for trained UK regular armed forces requirements and trained UK regular armed forces strengths for each service and rank are provided in the following tables.
	
		
			  Naval service trained UK regular strengths( 1)  and requirements by NATO rank 
			  NATO rank  Requirement( 2)  Trained strength 
			 OF-7 and above(3) 30 40 
			 OF-6 60 80 
			 OF-5 230 280 
			 OF-4 1,110 1,140 
			 OF-3(4) 2,160 2,190 
			 OF-2 3,000 2,630 
			 OF-1 — 40 
			 Officers total 6,590 6,410 
			
			 OR-9 740 760 
			 OR-8 880 800 
			 OR-7 3,730 4.000 
			 OR-6 5,090 4,570 
			 OR-4 6,900 6,210 
			 OR-3 — 540 
			 OR-2 11,690 11,050 
			 Other ranks total 29,020 27,930 
		
	
	
		
			  Army trained UK regular strengths and requirements( 1)  by NATO rank 
			  NATO rank  Requirement( 5)  Trained strength 
			 OF-7 and above(3) 60 70 
			 OF-6 170 180 
			 OF-5 520 590 
			 OF-4 1,750 1,790 
			 OF-3 4,300 4,860 
			 OF-2 4,930 4,680 
			 OF-1 1,810 1,640 
			 Officers total 13,560 13,800 
			
			 OR-9 1,380 1,740 
			 OR-8 4,260 4,830 
			 OR-7 5,810 6,050 
			 OR-6 10,320 9,730 
			 OR-4 16,640 14,870 
			 OR-3 17,720 15,760 
			 OR-2 29,470 29,130 
			 Other ranks total 85,600 82,120 
		
	
	
		
			  RAF trained UK regular strengths and requirements( 1)  by NATO rank 
			  NATO rank  Requirement( 6)  Trained strength 
			 OF-6 and above(3) 100 130 
			 OF-5 290 330 
			 OF-4 1,130 1,230 
			 OF-3 2,420 2,540 
			 OF-2 and below 4,720 4,260 
			 Officers total 8,670 8,480 
			
			 OR-9 1,080 1,210 
			 OR-7 3,180 3,180 
			 OR-6 6,610 6,210 
			 OR-4 8,640 8,370 
			 OR-2 and below 12,690 11,930 
			 Other ranks total(7) 32,190 30,900 
			 "—" = zero or rounded to zero. (1) Naval service strength figures include UK regular forces and full-time reserve service personnel filling regular posts. Army strength figures include trained UK regular forces and exclude Gurkhas, full-time reserve service personnel and mobilised reservists. RAF strength figures include UK regular forces and full-time reserve service personnel filling regular posts. (2) Naval service requirements by rank are the planning liabilities as determined by the naval service. They do not match DASA's published total requirements, which are based on the ceilings set in the DP09 planning round. (3) No services have personnel at NATO rank OF-10. (4) The naval service has no personnel at substantive rank OR-3 and no requirement at this rank. Marines with a substantive rank of OR-2 but acting as corporal are recorded as paid rank OR-3, which aligns with the recognised rank of lance corporal in the Army. (5) Army soldier RAL split by rank has been provided by DM(A). (6) RAF requirements are as provided by RAF M&PC Mpr Reg. September 2009 liability was calculated by straight-line interpolation between DP08 1 April 2009 liability and DP09 1 April 2010 liability. (7) The Royal Air Force has no personnel at NATO ranks OR-3 or OR-8.  Notes: 1. Totals may not equal the sum of parts due to rounding. All numbers are rounded to the nearest 10 with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20, to prevent systematic bias. 2. Due to ongoing validation of data from the joint personnel administration system, all strength figures are provisional and subject to review.

Disposal Services Agency

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what contractors have been approved by the Disposal Services Authority to sell surplus British defence equipment;
	(2)  what items were sold by the Disposal Services Authority in 2008-09; how much each item was sold for; to whom each item was sold; and who approved each sale.

Quentin Davies: The list of DSA's current contractors that sell surplus MOD equipment is provided as follows.
	 UK contracts
	AgustaWestland
	Azcom Business Solutions Ltd.
	BAe Insyte
	Bonhams 1793 Ltd.
	Babcock Support Services Ltd.
	Cronifer UK Ltd. (now expired, active during 2008-09)
	Donelan Trading Ltd. (now expired, active 2008-09)
	Field Textiles Ltd.
	J. Graham
	L. W. Vass Ltd.
	Leafield Logistics and Technical Services Ltd.
	Liquidity Services Ltd.
	MBDA
	Metal and Waste Recycling Ltd.
	Office Green Ltd.
	OSS Group Ltd.
	Ramco (UK) Ltd.
	Silver Lining Industries Ltd.
	Sims Recycling Solutions (UK) Ltd.
	Thales Air Defence
	Thales (Navy)
	Vector Aerospace
	Veolia Environmental Service (UK) plc
	Witham (Specialist Vehicles) Ltd.
	 Overseas contracts
	Field Textiles (generated overseas)
	L. Jackson and Company Ltd. (currently under review by DSA)
	Vebeg GMBH
	Witham (generated overseas)
	DSA's sales range from large capital items such as ships to individual items such as computers. Details of the disposal of all individual surplus items could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The DSA gross total receipts for FY 2008-09 were £89 million.
	Approval for each sale is given at the appropriate level commensurate with the value of the asset, in accordance with the MOD approvals process.

Iraq Committee of Inquiry

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials in his Department have received requests to give evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 19 October 2009,  Official Report, column 1210W.

Military Aircraft

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his most recent estimate is of the level of immediately available combat air power.

Bill Rammell: I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.

SAR Chivenor

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the reasons are for the proposed reduction of service at SAR Chivenor from 24 hour to 12 hours; and when the proposed changes will take place.

Bill Rammell: The improved capability of the new Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopter will allow us to continue to provide effective coverage for all night-time incidents using only nine of the 12 SAR bases. The aim is to roll out the new service by taking over sites incrementally, starting with those operated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in 2012. The day-time only service at RMB Chivenor will start some time after 2012.

Territorial Army: Training

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) nurses,  (b) paramedics,  (c) mechanics and  (d) other skilled personnel have been trained through the Territorial Army in each of the last five years.

Bill Rammell: The Territorial Army (TA) trains a broad range of specialists. Many specialists, including medical specialists are recruited into the TA with relevant civilian qualifications and are provided with the necessary military training to be able to employ their skills in a military environment. Other specialists receive more comprehensive trade training. There is no single classification of "mechanics" in the TA. The number of vehicle mechanics trained in the last five complete years is as follows:
	
		
			  TA trained as vehicle mechanics 
			   Number 
			 2004-05 64 
			 2005-06 64 
			 2006-07 64 
			 2007-08 56 
			 2008-09 66

Cancer: Drugs

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which cancer drugs the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has  (a) recommended and  (b) not recommended for NHS use since 1 November 2008; how long the appraisal of each took; and whether the pharmaceutical company supplying each such drug offered to make it available on a risk-sharing basis.

Mike O'Brien: The information requested is shown in the table. For each of the appraisals, the table shows whether one or more Patient Access Schemes agreed between the Department and the manufacturer have been considered by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
	
		
			  Topic  Start of NICE appraisal( 1)  Date of final NICE guidance  Recommendation  Patient access scheme considered by NICE 
			 Hycamtin (topotecan) for cervical cancer (recurrent) December 2008 October 2009 Partial recommendation No 
			 Sutent (sunitinib) for Gastrointestinal stromal tumours August 2008 September 2009 Partial recommendation Yes 
			 Alimta (pemetrexed) for the first-line treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer October 2008 September 2009 Partial recommendation No 
			 Erbitux (cetuximab) for Colo-rectal cancer (first line) January 2008 August 2009 Partial recommendation Yes 
			 Avastin (bevacizumab) (first-line), Nexavar (sorafenib) (first-line and second-line), Sutent (sunitinib) (second-line) and Torisel (temsirolimus) (first-line) for the treatment of advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma September 2007(2) August 2009 Not recommended Nexavar (sorafenib)—yes 
			 Avastin (bevacizumab)—yes 
			 Sutent (sunitinib)—yes 
			 Mabthera (rituximab) for first-line treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia September 2008 July 2009 Partial recommendation No 
			 Erbitux (cetuximab) for Head and Neck Cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) September 2008 June 2009 Not recommended No 
			 Revlimid (lenalidomide) for Multiple Myeloma April 2008 June 2009 Partial recommendation Yes 
			 Sutent (sunitinib) for the first-line treatment of advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma September 2007(2) March 2009 Partial recommendation Yes 
			 Tarceva (erlotinib) for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer March 2006 November 2008 Partial recommendation Yes 
			 (1) The date NICE commenced work on the appraisal. NICE will also have carried out scoping work for the appraisal before this date. (2) This is the date on which the Multiple Technology Appraisal (MTA) began for Avastin (bevacizumab) (first-line), Nexavar (sorafenib) (first-line and second-line), Sutent (sunitinib) (first and second-line) and Torisel (temsirolimus) (first-line) for the treatment of advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The MTA was subsequently split and Sutent (sunitinib) for the first-line treatment of renal cell carcinoma was considered in a separate Single Technology Appraisal.

Colorectal Cancer: Screening

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many invitations to participate in the national bowel cancer screening programme have been issued; how many persons have referred themselves to the programme; how many test kits have been  (a) sent out and  (b) returned; how many people have attended for a colonoscopy; how many polyps have been removed; and how many cancers have been diagnosed in respect of (i) men and (ii) women (A) in each primary care trust, (B) in each screening centre and (C) at each regional programme hub.

Ann Keen: As at 26 October there were 4,806,090 invitations sent. 59,975 people aged over 69 referred themselves to the programme. 4,598,720 test kits were sent out and 2,665,954 were returned. 37,299 people attended for a colonoscopy and 17,027 patients had polyps removed. Information on cancers found by screening centre and regional hub is provided in the following table.
	Information on number of cancers by gender and by primary care trust is not routinely reported. We will provide the data as soon as this becomes available, and place a copy in the Library.
	
		
			  Information on cancers found by screening centre and regional hub as at 26 October 
			  Programme hub  Screening centre  Cancers found 
			 Midlands and North West Bolton 103 
			 Midlands and North West Cheshire 102 
			 Midlands and North West Cheshire and Merseyside 79 
			 Midlands and North West Coventry and Warwickshire 100 
			 Midlands and North West Cumbria and Westmorland 127 
			 Midlands and North West Heart of England 86 
			 Midlands and North West Hereford and Worcestershire 0 
			 Midlands and North West Lancashire 57 
			 Midlands and North West Merseyside/North Cheshire 187 
			 Midlands and North West North Staffordshire 31 
			 Midlands and North West Norwich 31 
			 Midlands and North West Pennine 63 
			 Midlands and North West Sandwell and West Birmingham 52 
			 Midlands and North West Shropshire 0 
			 Midlands and North West Wolverhampton 194 
			   1,212 
			 Southern Bath, Swindon, Wiltshire 17 
			 Southern Berkshire 57 
			 Southern Bristol and Weston 39 
			 Southern Buckinghamshire 0 
			 Southern Cornwall 0 
			 Southern Dorset 76 
			 Southern East Kent 24 
			 Southern Gloucestershire 91 
			 Southern Hampshire 20 
			 Southern Solent and West Sussex 163 
			 Southern Somerset 70 
			 Southern South Devon 127 
			 Southern Surrey 66 
			 Southern Sussex 8 
			 Southern West Kent and Medway 5 
			   763 
			
			 London North East London 85 
			 London South East London 55 
			 London St. Georges 128 
			 London St. Marks 90 
			 London University College London 72 
			 London West London 46 
			   476 
			
			 North East Bradford and Airedale 38 
			 North East Calderdale Kirklees and Wakefield 12 
			 North East County Durham and Darlington 15 
			 North East Harrogate Leeds and York 3 
			 North East Hull 122 
			 North East North of Tyne 76 
			 North East South of Tyne 105 
			 North East South Yorkshire 138 
			 North East Tees 158 
			   668 
			
			 Eastern Bedford 20 
			 Eastern Cambridge 71 
			 Eastern Derbyshire 146 
			 Eastern East and North Hertfordshire 46 
			 Eastern Leicestershire, Northampton and Rutland 124 
			 Eastern North Essex 29 
			 Eastern Norwich 234 
			 Eastern Nottinghamshire 82 
			 Eastern Peterborough and Huntingdon 1 
			 Eastern South Essex 32 
			 Eastern South Yorkshire 19 
			 Eastern West Hertfordshire 45 
			   849 
			
			 Total  3,968

Drugs: Misuse

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people aged  (a) under 16 and  (b) between 16 and 18 years were admitted to hospital with a primary or secondary diagnosis of poisoning by drugs in each of the last five years.

Gillian Merron: The information requested is in the following table. The system of diagnostic codes used to classify admission to hospital does not distinguish between recreational, illicit misuse or medical use of drugs.
	These data include admissions in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector.
	
		
			   Age grouping 
			   15 years and under  16-18 years 
			 2008-09 11,166 10,054 
			 2007-08 12,159 10,405 
			 2006-07 12,121 9,404 
			 2005-06 12,567 9,138 
			 2004-05 11,537 7,652 
			  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care 
		
	
	The ICD-10 code categories for poisoning (either self-inflicted or accidental), are as follows and include overdose of these substances:
	T36—Poisoning by systemic antibiotics
	T37—Poisoning by other systemic anti-infectives and antiparasitics
	T38—Poisoning by hormones and their synthetic substitutes and antagonists, not elsewhere classified
	T39—Poisoning by nonopioid analgesics, antipyretics and antirheumatics
	T40—Poisoning by narcotics and psychodysleptics (hallucinogens)
	T41—Poisoning by anaesthetics and therapeutic gases
	T42—Poisoning by antiepileptic, sedative-hypnotic and antiparkinsonism drugs
	T43—Poisoning by psychotropic drugs, not elsewhere classified
	T44—Poisoning by drugs primarily affecting the autonomic nervous system
	T45—Poisoning by primarily systemic and haematological agents, not elsewhere classified
	T46—Poisoning by agents primarily affecting the cardiovascular system
	T47—Poisoning by agents primarily affecting the gastrointestinal system
	T48—Poisoning by agents primarily acting on smooth and skeletal muscles and the respiratory system
	T49Poisoning by topical agents primarily affecting skin and mucous membrane and by ophthalmological, otorhinolaryngological and dental drugs
	T50—Poisoning by diuretics and other and unspecified drugs, medicaments and biological substances

Drugs: Rehabilitation

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people entering treatment with the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse left treatment free of their drug dependency  (a) with no drug use and  (b) with occasional drug use in each year since such information started to be counted within the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System.

Gillian Merron: The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse does not provide drug treatment but assures the delivery of local drug treatment services and collects data about treatment via the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System.
	The information requested can be found in the following table.
	
		
			  Trends in treatment exit reasons (clients aged 18 or over) 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 Completed free of dependency (no drug use) 3,953 4,862 6,347 8,980 
			 Completed free of dependency 7,255 8,855 11,927 15,676 
			 Total completed free of dependency 11,208 13,717 18,274 24,656 
		
	
	Statistics for 2008-09 were collected using a new methodology. The data for previous years presented above has been modified to fit the new methodology and excludes under 18-year olds to enable comparisons to be made.
	"no drug use" means that in the opinion of the treating clinician, the client is not only free of dependency but is not using any other illicit drugs at all on exiting treatment. Others successfully completing treatment may acknowledge occasional use of other illicit drugs which are judged by the clinician not to require treating.
	For figures under the previous methodology, including under 18-year olds, for the years 2004-05 to 2007-08 I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 9 July 2009,  Official Report, column 974W.
	Separate figures for young people accessing substance misuse services in 2008-09 will be published later in the year.

Exercise

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the planned budget is for delivery of the new physical activity care pathway Let's Get Moving.

Gillian Merron: So far, the Department has spent approximately £500,000 in the development of the Let's Get Moving tools including the commissioning guidance on physical activity care pathway - Let's Get Moving. We are planning delivery and roll out activities over the coming months.

Exercise

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in what areas the second year of the pilot of the Fit for the Future scheme will take place.

Gillian Merron: As set out in Be Active, Be Healthy - A plan for getting the nation moving the Fit for the Future pilot which commenced in April 2009 is running for 12 months in targeted areas in five local authorities (Suffolk, Manchester, Torbay, Bristol and Newcastle). A copy of the plan has already been placed in the Library.
	Any future funding and delivery arrangements for Fit for the Future will be subject to the outcome of the monitoring and evaluation that has been put in place. A final report on the programme is due in June 2010.

Health Education: Expenditure

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on  (a) consultants,  (b) advertising,  (c) publishing,  (d) public relations,  (e) professional training and  (f) other activities for each health promotion campaign (i) run by the Department and (ii) commissioned from other organisations, in (A) 2005-06, (B) 2006-07, (C) 2007-08 and (D) 2008-09; and which organisation ran each campaign which was not run by the Department.

Phil Hope: The following table shows the Department's advertising expenditure over the last four completed financial years.
	
		
			  Department of Health advertising spend in 2005-06  to  2008-09( 1) 
			  £ million 
			  Campaign  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 Alcohol (from 2006-07 departmental contribution to campaign run jointly with Home Office) 0.00 0.56 0.61 4.77 
			 Antibiotics 0.38 0.00 0.39 1.15 
			 Change4Life 0.00 0.00 0.00 7.69 
			 Drugs (departmental contribution to campaign run jointly with Home Office) 0.18 1.34 0.67 1.45 
			 Flu (Immunisation) 1.83 1.11 0.98 1.42 
			 Hepatitis C 0.00 0.52 1.34 1.30 
			 HPV Vaccination 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.80 
			 Immunisation 0.00 1.66 0.00 0.32 
			 National health service including nurse recruitment 0.22 0.00 0.00 0.00 
			 NHS Injury Benefits Scheme 0.00 0.00 0.40 0.00 
			 NHS Choices 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.55 
			 Patient Choice 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.53 
			 Respiratory and Hand Hygiene 0.00 0.00 0.32 1.53 
			 Sexual health/teenage pregnancy 0.00 2.88 3.11 2.83 
			 Social care/worker recruitment 2.42 2.31 2.22 2.03 
			 Smoking—Tobacco Control 20.80 13.17 10.79 23.38 
			 Stroke 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.52 
			 Tobacco Legislation 0.00 0.32 5.38 0.00 
			 Winter (get the right treatment/ask about medicines day) 0.59 0.00 0.00 0.00 
			 5 a Day 0.05 0.05 0.00 0.00 
			 E111/EHIC 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.16 
			 DH outdoor campaign 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 
			 Total 27.47 23.92 26.24 56.43 
			 (1) Advertising spend is defined as covering only media spend (inclusive of agency commissions but excluding production costs, COI commission and VAT). All figures exclude advertising rebates and audit adjustments and therefore may differ from COI official turnover figures. All figures are rounded to the nearest £10,000. These figures do not include departmental recruitment/classified advertising costs and ad hoc spend under £10,000. These figures may include occasional minor spend through COI by NHS organisations, to supplement national campaigns in their area. While this expenditure has been excluded as far as possible so that this chart reflects central departmental spend, it would incur disproportionate cost to validate that every item of NHS expenditure has been removed. 
		
	
	The following table shows the Department's expenditure on publishing over the last four completed financial years.
	
		
			   £ 
			 2005-06 7,541,114.58 
			 2006-07 6,844,186.98 
			 2007-08 4,544,623.78 
			 2008-09 6,387,399.42 
		
	
	The Department commissions public relations companies through two routes:
	The Department's own public relations (PR) framework established in compliance with European Union procurement directives. The framework agreement does not guarantee any work to suppliers. Some of the companies on the framework have not had any contracts with the Department during the past five years; others may have had several contracts across different campaigns.
	The Central Office of Information (COI) PR framework established in compliance with EU procurement directives.
	The following table shows the Department's expenditure over the last four completed financial years on public relations consultancies.
	
		
			  Department expenditure on public relations consultancies 2005-09 
			  £ 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			  Direct expenditure from the Department 
			 Excluding VAT 5,080,773 5,017,342 6,438,491 5,397,391 
			  
			  Expenditure through Central Office of Information 
			 Excluding VAT 71,756 65,580 25,582 4,200,876 
			  Notes: 1. The above expenditure includes additional expenditure made directly by NHS Connecting for Health (part of the Department of Health), but excludes any expenditure by Arms Length Bodies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies. 2. Expenditure through COI PR services includes work carried out by COI's regional PR team and PR agencies on the COI roster. 3. The above expenditure includes both fees and costs i.e. fees and expenses to cover time worked by agency staff and costs incurred during the work. Costs may include items such as: design, printing, venue hire, photography, travel and postage. However, it is not possible to extract a more detailed breakdown from Department of Health's financial reporting system. 
		
	
	The following table shows expenditure on health promotion campaigns commissioned from other organisations by the Department over the last four completed financial years. These figures represent communications activities but are not split into the individual categories as per departmental expenditure, as these records are not held centrally by the Department and to identify them would be to incur disproportionate cost.
	
		
			   Campaign  £ 
			 2005-06 British Heart Foundation (1)4,000,000 
			  Terence Higgins Trust 1,200,000 
			  African HIV Policy Network 440,000 
			
			 2006-07 Cancer Research UK (1)3,000,000 
			  Terence Higgins Trust 1,700,000 
			  African HIV Policy Network 760,000 
			
			 2007-08 Terence Higgins Trust 1,700,000 
			  African HIV Policy Network 600,000 
			
			 2008-09 To consortium of British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and Diabetes UK 500,000 
			  Terence Higgins Trust 1,700,000 
			  African HIV Policy Network 600,000 
			  Netmums 55,000 
			  ContinYou 25,000 
			 (1) Under section 64. 
		
	
	Records for consultants, professional training and other activities are not held centrally and would incur disproportionate cost to identify.

Heart Disease

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people aged  (a) 18 years and over,  (b) 60 years and over and  (c) 85 years and over who were diagnosed with a heart condition in (i) England and (ii) Yorkshire and the Humber Strategic Health Authority in each year since 1997.

Ann Keen: This information is not collected routinely. Data are collected on the prevalence of heart disease through the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) for all ages (but it is not broken down into 18 years and older, 60 years and older and 85 years old and over).
	The number of cases (and percentage prevalence) is reported as follows through QOF for England and Yorkshire and Humber Strategic Health Authority (SHA). The data are only available from 2004.
	
		
			  Quality and Outcomes Framework, heart disease prevalent cases and percentage prevalence 
			   2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			  Coronary heart disease  
			  Prevalent cases (all ages)  
			 England 1,893,184 1,900,640 1,898,565 1,892,432 1,886,406 
			 Yorkshire and Humber SHA 227,425 228,219 226,976 225,862 224,326 
			  Percentage Prevalence (all ages)  
			 England 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.5 
			 Yorkshire and Humber SHA 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.2 4.1 
			   
			  Heart Failure  
			  Prevalent cases (all ages)  
			 England — — 419,856 406,668 397,040 
			 Yorkshire and Humber SHA — — 44,909 43,382 42,404 
			  Percentage Prevalence (all ages)  
			 England — — 0.8 0.8 0.7 
			 Yorkshire and Humber SHA — — 0.8 0.8 0.8 
			   
			  Atrial Fibrillation  
			  Prevalent cases (all ages)  
			 England — — 692,054 701,157 732,508 
			 Yorkshire and Humber SHA — — 71,749 73,006 76,067 
			  Percentage Prevalence (all ages)  
			 England — — 1.3 1.3 1.3 
			 Yorkshire and Humber SHA — — 1.3 1.4 1.4 
			   
			  Left Ventricular Dysfunction (heart failure due to LVD)  
			  Prevalent cases (all ages)  
			 England 230,321 232,524 — — 210,557 
			 Yorkshire and Humber SHA 26,973 27,290 — — 21,905 
			  Percentage Prevalence (all ages)  
			 England 0.4 0.4 — — 0.4 
			 Yorkshire and Humber SHA 0.5 0.5 — — 0.4

Mesothelioma

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have required treatment for mesothelioma in  (a) Jarrow constituency,  (b) South Tyneside,  (c) the North East and  (d) England in each year since 1997.

Ann Keen: The information on number of people who required treatment for mesothelioma is not held centrally. Requested information on count of finished consultant episodes, where the primary diagnosis was mesothelioma is provided in the following table for England, South Tyneside Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the relevant strategic health authorities (SHAs). It should be noted that Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA and County Durham and Tees Valley SHA combined to form the North East SHA in 2006-07. This information is not centrally held for the United Kingdom.
	
		
			  Count of finished consultant episodes where the primary diagnosis was Mesothelioma( 1)  for selected organisations national health service hospitals , England and activity performed in the Independent sector in England commissioned by English NHS 1997-98 to 2008-09 
			   England  North East Strategic Health Authority  South Tyneside PCT as PCT of residence 
			 2008-09 7,349 708 104 
			 2007-08 6,968 735 77 
			 2006-07 6,677 735 69 
		
	
	
		
			   England  Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA as SHA of residence  County Durham and Tees Valley SHA as SHA of residence  South Tyneside PCT as PCT of residence 
			 2005-06 6,436 316 303 40 
			 2004-05 5,671 348 242 28 
			 2003-04 5,697 443 230 56 
			 2002-03 4,685 267 173 53 
			 2001-02 4,663 321 129 59 
			 2000-01 4,442 315 122 57 
			 1999-2000 4,155 401 121 58 
			 1998-99 3,773 373 98 39 
			 1997-98 3,075 186 69 11 
			  Notes: 1. Finished Consultant Episode (FCE)—An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. It should be noted that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year. 2. Diagnosis (Primary Diagnosis)—The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) dataset and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital. (1)The ICD-10 codes used in this analysis were as follows: C45 Mesothelioma; D19 Benign neoplasm of mesothelial tissue 3. Assessing growth through time—HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. During the years that these records have been collected the NHS there have been ongoing improvements in quality and coverage. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example a number of procedures may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and may no longer be accounted in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time. 4. PCT and SHA Data Quality—PCT and SHA data were added to historic data-years in the HES database using 2002-03 boundaries, as a one-off exercise in 2004. The quality of the data on PCT of Treatment and SHA of Treatment is poor in 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99, with over a third of all finished episodes having missing values in these years. Data quality of PCT of general practitioner (GP) practice and SHA of GP practice in 1997-98 and 1998-99 is also poor, with a high proportion missing values where practices changed or ceased to exist. There is less change in completeness of the residence-based fields over time, where the majority of unknown values are due to missing postcodes on birth episodes. Users of time series analysis including these years need to be aware of these issues in their interpretation of the data. 5. Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA and County Durham and Tees Valley SHA combined to form the North East SHA in 2006-07.  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Information Centre for health and social care

Methadone

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been admitted to hospital with a primary or secondary diagnosis of methadone overdose in each of the last five years; and how many of those died following admission.

Gillian Merron: The information requested can be found in the following table.
	
		
			  These data include admissions in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			  Year( 6)  Finished admission episodes( 1)  Discharge episodes( 2)  Died in hospital( 3) 
			 2008-09 933 877 12 
			 2007-08 866 810 9 
			 2006-07 715 665 7 
			 2005-06 643 595 4 
			 2004-05 561 526 7 
			 (1) Finished admission episodes: A finished admission episode is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Finished admission episodes are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. (2)  Discharges: A discharge episode is the last episode during a hospital stay (a spell), where the patient is discharged from the hospital (this includes transfer to another hospital). Discharge episodes have been included as it is here that 'died in hospital' events are recorded. For a small proportion of hospital stays the diagnosis on admission may not be present on the discharge episode hence the difference in counts between admission and discharge episodes. (3)  Deaths: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data cannot be used to determine the cause of death of a patient while in hospital. Deaths recorded on the HES database may be analysed by the main diagnosis for which the patient was being treated during their stay in hospital, which may not necessarily be the underlying cause of death. For example, a patient admitted for a hernia operation (with a primary diagnosis of hernia) may die from an unrelated heart attack. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) collects information on the cause of death, wherever it occurs, based on the death certificate and should be the source of data for analyses on cause of death. (4)  Primary Diagnosis: The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the HES data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. (5)  Secondary Diagnosis: As well as the primary diagnosis, there are up to 19 (13 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and six prior to 2002-03) secondary diagnosis fields in HES that show other diagnoses relevant to the episode of care. (6) Assessing growth through time: HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. The quality and coverage of the data have improved over time. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Some of the increase in figures for later years (particularly 2006-07 onwards) may be due to the improvement in the coverage of independent sector activity. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example, a number of procedures may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and may no longer be accounted for in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time.  Data quality: HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England. Data is also received from a number of independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care

NHS: Disciplinary Proceedings

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on  (a) the number of clinicians suspended from their posts and  (b) the cost to trusts of such suspensions.

Ann Keen: There were 154 active suspensions and exclusions at the end of 2008-09. The end-of-year numbers fluctuate without a clear upward or downward trend. It is not possible to estimate the current cost of such suspensions. In 2003, the National Audit Office (NAO) estimated that hospital and community doctor exclusions cost an average of £188,000, over an average period of 47 weeks. The NAO's hospital and community weekly cost estimate was therefore £4,000 at 2001-02 prices. This was a one-off survey involving analysis of 206 doctor exclusions in the hospital and community sector.

NHS: Repairs and Maintenance

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the  (a) actual and  (b) risk-adjusted backlog maintenance was for each NHS trust in (i) 2007-08 and (ii) 2008-09.

Ann Keen: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
	National health service organisations are responsible for the provision and maintenance of facilities to support the delivery of high quality clinical services. Therefore, the NHS will locally prioritise investment to reduce backlog maintenance based on risk assessment, reconfiguration planning and available resources. The majority of backlog maintenance relates to low priority work, which trusts will undertake through maintenance programmes. Where higher risks are present, work will be undertaken as a priority. While levels of backlog maintenance vary across the NHS, it is estimated that around 75 per cent. of the total costs to eradicate backlog maintenance is concentrated in 20 per cent. of organisations.
	The Department collects data on backlog maintenance and risk adjusted backlog maintenance annually from NHS trusts through its Estates Returns Information Collection. The data provided is not amended centrally and the responsibility for its accuracy lies with the contributing NHS organisations.

NHS: Working Hours

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent in each category on ensuring that NHS trusts comply with the provisions of the European Working Time Directive.

Ann Keen: A total of £310 million has been made available to support compliance with the European working time directive.

NHS: Working Hours

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has given to each NHS trust for the purposes of assisting with compliance with the provisions of the European Working Time Directive.

Ann Keen: These data are not collected centrally.
	A total of £310 million was made available to support the implementation of the working time directive for junior doctors.
	In 2009-10, £200 million was made available in primary care trust (PCT) revenue allocations to support working time directive implementation, in addition to the £110 million that was made available in 2008-09.
	£150 million of the £200 million was made explicit in the 2009-10 tariff uplift.
	Strategic health authorities (SHAs) have been able to target a further £50 million to support change and expansion in paediatrics, obstetrics and anaesthetics.
	SHAs have made the criteria clear to PCTs and trust boards of the availability of funding.

Obesity: Children

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding has been allocated to the provision of child weight management programmes in 2009-10.

Gillian Merron: In 2009-10, the Department allocated £69 million to primary care trusts (PCTs), as part of their overall PCT allocations, to support our obesity strategy. This includes funding for child weight management services.

Orthopaedics

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) full and  (b) partial limb amputations were carried out in each of the last five years.

Ann Keen: The following table gives information on finished consultant episodes where a main or secondary procedure of amputation of the limb was carried out in the last five years.
	However, we are unable to divide the data into partial or full amputation as there is a risk of double counting. For instance, there are occasions when a person could have more than one amputation during an episode of care, for example, initially it might be intended for the patient to have a 'partial limb amputation' which may proceed to a 'full limb amputation.'
	
		
			  A count of finished consultant episodes( 1)  where a main or secondary procedure( 2)  of amputation of the limb( 3)  was carried out, 2004-05 to 2008-09— Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			  Operation description  Operation code  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			  Amputation of arm   
			 Forequarter amputation X07.1 8 10 20 20 12 
			 Disarticulation of shoulder X07.2 8 7 10 6 18 
			 Amputation of arm above elbow X07.3 57 56 64 59 58 
			 Amputation of arm through forearm X07.5 29 27 29 23 26 
			 Other specified amputation of arm X07.8 2 3 1 3 4 
			 Unspecified amputation of arm X07.9 2 5 5 6 4 
			  Amputation of leg   
			 Hindquarter amputation X09.1 24 21 29 27 30 
			 Disarticulation of hip X09.2 49 39 51 49 37 
			 Amputation of leg above knee X09.3 2,805 2,782 2,653 2,755 2,767 
			 Amputation of leg through knee X09.4 145 156 167 184 199 
			 Amputation of leg below knee X09.5 2,760 2,651 2,492 2,596 2,753 
			 Other specified amputation of leg X09.8 11 8 8 6 4 
			 Unspecified amputation of leg X09.9 8 8 6 7 8 
			  Amputation of hand, foot and toe   
			 Amputation of hand at wrist X08.1 5 8 7 8 13 
			 Amputation of thumb X08.2 207 238 247 283 266 
			 Amputation of phalanx of finger X08.3 1,699 1,601 1,703 1,710 1,745 
			 Amputation of finger nec X08.4 1,546 1,611 1,720 1,803 1,713 
			 Other specified amputation of hand X08.8 49 52 43 49 42 
			 Unspecified amputation of hand X08.9 7 10 1 5 4 
			 Amputation of foot through ankle X10.1 40 40 31 46 45 
			 Disarticulation of tarsal bones X10.2 11 10 8 5 10 
			 [disarticulation of metatarsal bones X10.3 49 55 52 49 56 
			 Amputation through metatarsal bones X10.4 627 626 574 660 736 
			 Other specified amputation of foot X10.8 94 93 86 71 79 
			 Unspecified amputation of foot X10.9 43 50 31 46 51 
			 Amputation of great toe X11.1 1,354 1,326 1,320 1,395 1,586 
			 Amputation of phalanx of toe X11.2 1,467 1,432 1,560 1,544 1,638 
			 Other specified amputation of toe X11.8 1,571 1,472 1,526 1,519 1,564 
			 Unspecified amputation of toe X11.9 1,712 1,851 1,729 1,844 1,943 
			  Reamputation   
			 Reamputation at higher level X12.1 387 388 397 416 501 
			 (1) Finished Consultant Episode (FCE) A finished consultant episode (FCE) is defined as a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. It should be noted that the figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year. (2) Number of episodes with a (named) main or secondary procedure These figures represent the number of episodes where the procedure (or intervention) was recorded in any of the 24 (12 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and four prior to 2002-03) operative procedure fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. A record is only included once in each count, even if the procedure is recorded in more than one operative procedure field of the record. It should be noted that more procedures are carried out than episodes with a main or secondary procedure. For example, patients under going a 'cataract operation' would tend to have at least two procedures—removal of the faulty lens and the fitting of a new one—counted in a single episode. (3) Ungrossed data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed). (4) Data quality HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. Data is also received from a number of independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. (5) Changes to coding classifications: OPCS-4 Operative procedure codes were revised for 2006-07 and 2007-08. The 2008-09 and 2007-08 data uses OPCS 4.4 codes, 2006-07 data uses OPCS 4.3 codes, data prior to 2006-07 uses OPCS 4.2 codes. All codes that were in OPCS 4.2 remain in later OPCS 4 versions, however the introduction of OPCS 4.3 codes enable the recording of interventions and procedures which were not possible in OPCS 4.2. In particular, OPCS 4.3 and OPCS 4.4 codes include high cost drugs and diagnostic imaging, testing and rehabilitation. Some activity may have been coded under different codes in OPCS 4.2. These changes need to be borne in mind when analysing time series and may explain some apparent variations over time. Please note that care needs to be taken in using the newer codes as some providers of data were unable to start using the new codes at the beginning of each data year. More information about OPCS 4 changes is on the Connecting for Health website: www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk (6) Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. The quality and coverage of the data have improved over time. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Some of the increase in figures for later years (particularly 2006-07 onwards) may be due to the improvement in the coverage of independent sector activity. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example, a number of procedures may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and may no longer be accounted for in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time. (7) The following codes were used for amputation of limb:  Amputation of arm X07.1 Forequarter amputation X07.2 Disarticulation of shoulder X07.3 Amputation of arm above elbow X07.4 Amputation of arm through elbow X07.5 Amputation of arm through forearm X07.8 Other specified amputation of arm X07.9 Unspecified amputation of arm  Amputation of leg X09.1 Hindquarter amputation X09.2 Disarticulation of hip X09.3 Amputation of leg above knee X09.4 Amputation of leg through knee X09.5 Amputation of leg below knee X09.8 Other specified amputation of leg X09.9 Unspecified amputation of leg  Amputation of hand, foot and toe X08.1 Amputation of hand at wrist X08.2 Amputation of thumb X08.3 Amputation of phalanx of finger X08.4 Amputation of finger NEC X08.8 Other specified amputation of hand X08.9 Unspecified amputation of hand X10.1 Amputation of foot through ankle X10.2 Disarticulation of tarsal bones X10.3 Disarticulation of metatarsal bones X10.4 Amputation through metatarsal bones X10.8 Other specified amputation of foot X10.9 Unspecified amputation of foot X11.1 Amputation of great toe X11.2 Amputation of phalanx of toe X11.8 Other specified amputation of toe X11.9 Unspecified amputation of toe  The following code may apply to any site, and is not restricted to arm, leg, hand, foot, finger, or toe: X12.1 Reamputation at higher level  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES); Outpatients, The NHS Information Centre for health and social care

Coastal Areas: Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many full-time equivalent employees had responsibility for the  (a) Seaside and Country Homes scheme and  (b) housingmoves.org website in each of the last three years.

Ian Austin: Since July 2007 the Department has employed eight full-time equivalent (FTE) employees responsible for the delivery of  (a) the Seaside and Country Homes scheme and 0.05 FTE for  (b) the housingmoves.org website.
	To enable these high value and high demand moves the staff provide:
	A brokering service to match registered applicants with suitable homes as they become available
	a 'drop-in' service for older and often vulnerable applicants where they can meet with an adviser face to face to assist with enquiries, housing options and applications
	a telephone helpline for applicants to advise on housing options; the progress of applications; and the availability of alternative accommodation
	marketing for the scheme to increase landlord and tenant participation including the identification and use of hard to let social stock (such as sheltered housing)
	Each move results in a net saving to Treasury of about £12,000 (or £2.4 million for 200 moves each year—based on a 2004 departmental economic study) based on savings: in the cost of temporary accommodation; in the cost of managing empty properties; and the costs of housing benefit payments
	In addition the staff provides the housing brokerage service for vulnerable British Nationals returning under the Zimbabwe Resettlement programme.

Coastal Areas: Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department spent on the Seaside and Country Homes scheme under each budgetary heading in each of the last three years.

Ian Austin: The Department has spent the following amount on the Seaside and Country Homes scheme:
	
		
			   July 2007-March 2008  April 2008-March 2009  April-October 2009 
			 Staff costs 260,200 317,169 162,685 
			 Grant to non-LA bodies 115,730 0 0 
			 IT/Facilities management (incl. utilities and services) 289,027 550,345 352,082 
			 Travel and subsistence 733 7,592 3,445 
			 Insurance 1,885 1,647 0 
			 Marketing and publishing 14,265 44,483 29,027 
			 Council tax 36,051 36,050 33,465 
			 Rent and service charge 240,136 167,867 90,502 
			 Total expenditure on the Seaside and Country Homes scheme 958,027 1,125,153 671,206 
			  Notes: 1. The housingmoves website went on-line in July 2007. 2. Data for October 2009 is current up to and including 27 October 2009 
		
	
	The resource investment supports the delivery of high demand social mobility schemes. The Department (Secretary of State) has nomination rights to specific properties under the Seaside and Country Homes scheme. The service employs staff in discrete premises (until the lease expires in February 2011) providing: a front line delivery service; a telephone help line; an informative website with on-line registration and an accessible 'drop in centre' for older and often vulnerable applicants. The service also provides the housing brokerage service for vulnerable British Nationals returning under the Zimbabwe Resettlement programme.
	There are between 170-250 moves arranged per year that enable London based applicants to give up their social letting in the capital and move to more appropriate properties in preferred locations. Each move results in a net saving to Treasury of about £12,000 (or £2.4 million for 200 moves each year—based on a 2004 departmental economic study) based on savings: in the cost of temporary accommodation; in the cost of managing empty properties; and the costs of housing benefit payments.

Coastal Areas: Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many tenants applied for alternative accommodation under the Seaside and Country Homes Scheme in each of the last three years.

Ian Austin: The number of tenants applying to move to alternative accommodation through the Seaside and Country Homes Scheme is detailed in the following table.
	
		
			  From  To  Number 
			 July 2007(1) March 2008 349 
			 April 2008 March 2009 805 
			 April 2009 October 2009(2) 475 
			 (1) The housingmoves website went online in July 2007. (2) Data for October 2009 is current up to and including 27 October 2009. 
		
	
	Each move results in a net saving to Treasury of about £12,000 (or £2.4 million for 200 moves each year—based on a 2004 departmental economic study) based on savings: in the cost of temporary accommodation; in the cost of managing empty properties; and the costs of housing benefit payments.
	To enable these high value and high demand moves, the staff provide:
	A brokering service to match registered applicants with suitable homes as they become available.
	A 'drop-in' service for older and often vulnerable applicants where they can meet with an adviser face to face to assist with inquiries, housing options and applications.
	A telephone helpline for applicants to advise on housing options; the progress of applications; and the availability of alternative accommodation.
	Marketing for the scheme to increase landlord and tenant participation including the identification and use of hard to let social stock (such as sheltered housing).
	In addition, the staff provide the housing brokerage service for vulnerable British nationals returning under the Zimbabwe Resettlement Programme.

Coastal Areas: Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many tenants moved from each local authority area under the Seaside and Country Homes Scheme in each of the last three years.

Ian Austin: The number of tenants moved from each local authority (London borough) under the Seaside and Country Homes Scheme is detailed in the following table.
	
		
			  London  b orough  2009- 1 0  2008-09  2007-08 
			 Barking and Dagenham 5 6 17 
			 Barnet 0 3 1 
			 Bexley 3 6 2 
			 Brent 0 0 0 
			 Bromley 2 8 3 
			 Camden 1 3 3 
			 City of London 0 0 1 
			 Croydon 5 6 4 
			 Ealing 3 5 5 
			 Enfield 2 3 3 
			 Greenwich 14 23 12 
			 Hackney 3 18 7 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 2 5 4 
			 Haringey 3 5 9 
			 Harrow 2 3 1 
			 Havering 0 5 1 
			 Hillingdon 0 2 7 
			 Hounslow 4 18 2 
			 Islington 3 8 8 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 1 0 1 
			 Kingston 1 3 1 
			 Lambeth 3 5 6 
			 Lewisham 7 12 6 
			 Merton 1 1 3 
			 Newham 10 16 12 
			 Redbridge 2 5 3 
			 Richmond 1 4 3 
			 Southwark 10 10 23 
			 Sutton 4 6 4 
			 Tower Hamlets 5 10 7 
			 Waltham Forest 2 13 10 
			 Wandsworth 5 4 7 
			 Westminster 1 3 3 
			 Total 105 219 179 
			  Notes:  1. The housingmoves website went on-line in July 2007. 2. Data for October 2009 is current up to and including 27 October 2009. 
		
	
	Each move results in a net saving to Treasury of about £12,000 (or £2.4 million for 200 moves each year—based on a 2004 Departmental economic study) based on savings: in the cost of temporary accommodation; in the cost of managing empty properties; and the costs of housing benefit payments.
	To enable these high value and high demand moves the staff provide:
	A brokering service to match registered applicants with suitable homes as they become available
	a 'drop-in' service for older and often vulnerable applicants where they can meet with an adviser face to face to assist with enquiries, housing options and applications
	a telephone helpline for applicants to advise on housing options; the progress of applications; and the availability of alternative accommodation
	marketing for the scheme to increase landlord and tenant participation including the identification and use of hard to let social stock (such as sheltered housing).
	In addition the staff provide the housing brokerage service for vulnerable British Nationals returning under the Zimbabwe Resettlement Programme.

Coastal Areas: Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many tenants moved to alternative accommodation through the Seaside and Country Homes Scheme in each of the last three years.

Ian Austin: The number of tenants moving to alternative accommodation through the Seaside and Country Homes Scheme is detailed in the following table.
	
		
			  From  To  Number 
			 July 2007(1) March 2008 179 
			 April 2008 March 2009 219 
			 April 2009 October 2009(2) 105 
			 (1) The housingmoves website went online in July 2007. (2) Data for October 2009 is current up to and including 27 October 2009. 
		
	
	Each move results in a net saving to Treasury of about £12,000 (or £2.4 million for 200 moves each year—based on a 2004 departmental economic study) based on savings: in the cost of temporary accommodation; in the cost of managing empty properties; and the costs of housing benefit payments.
	To enable these high value and high demand moves, the staff provide:
	A brokering service to match registered applicants with suitable homes as they become available.
	A 'drop-in' service for older and often vulnerable applicants where they can meet with an adviser face to face to assist with inquiries, housing options and applications.
	A telephone helpline for applicants to advise on housing options; the progress of applications; and the availability of alternative accommodation.
	Marketing for the scheme to increase landlord and tenant participation including the identification and use of hard to let social stock (such as sheltered housing).
	In addition, the staff provide the housing brokerage service for vulnerable British nationals returning under the Zimbabwe Resettlement Programme.

Coastal Areas: Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) bungalows and  (b) flats are managed by landlords taking part in the Seaside and Country Homes Scheme.

Ian Austin: There are 2,302 bungalows and 1,060 flats managed by landlords taking part in the Seaside and Country Homes Scheme.
	There are between 170 to 250 moves arranged per year that enable London-based applicants to give up their social letting in the capital and move to more appropriate properties in preferred locations. Each move results in a net saving to Treasury of about £12,000 (or £2.4 million for 200 moves each year—based on a 2004 departmental economic study) based on savings: in the cost of temporary accommodation; in the cost of managing empty properties; and the costs of housing benefit payments.
	To enable these high value and high demand moves, the staff provide:
	A brokering service to match registered applicants with suitable homes as they become available.
	A 'drop-in' service for older and often vulnerable applicants where they can meet with an adviser face to face to assist with inquiries, housing options and applications.
	A telephone helpline for applicants to advise on housing options; the progress of applications; and the availability of alternative accommodation.
	Marketing for the scheme to increase landlord and tenant participation including the identification and use of hard to let social stock (such as sheltered housing).
	In addition, the staff provide the housing brokerage service for vulnerable British nationals returning under the Zimbabwe Resettlement Programme.

Community Development: Doncaster

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many community wardens were in post in Doncaster  (a) at the most recent date for which figures are available and  (b) in each year since their introduction.

Barbara Follett: The information requested is as follows.
	 Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council — Community Wardens
	The following table shows the number of community wardens that have been in post from April 2004 until September 2009. Doncaster has had Neighbourhood Wardens since 2001-02 but was unable to supply figures until 2004.
	
		
			   Community Safety Wardens  Community First Officers  Neighbourhood Response Team 
			 4 April 50 34 n/a 
			 7 February 48 33 10 
			 9 September 53 35 10

Community Development: Finance

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to his announcement of the £12 million Connecting Communities Programme on 14 October 2009, how much money has been allocated to each of the 27 areas announced to date; which local groups will receive funding for which projects in each area; and how the effectiveness of funding in each case will be assessed.

Barbara Follett: holding answer 9 November 2009
	No funding has yet been allocated.
	We are in the process of agreeing action plans with each of the 27 areas, and these are based on addressing local challenges. The plans, and the amount of funding, will vary from area to area, as will the local partners and groups involved in delivering the solutions. Although there is a modest amount of additional resources available, the main focus will be on working through and with existing Government and local programmes and resources operating in target areas. This is about intensive community engagement to influence mainstream investment, not a stand alone programme.
	In line with the Government commitment to reduce ring-fencing each authority will have the flexibility to manage this additional funding in the most effective way to deliver solutions that meet local needs.
	We are also considering proposals for a national evaluation of the programme.

Community Development: Finance

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to his announcement of the £12 million Connecting Communities Programme on 14 October 2009, how much of the £12 million represents additional funding; what proportion of this funding will be spent in  (a) 2009-10 and  (b) 2010-11; and if he will make a statement.

Barbara Follett: holding answer 9 November 2009
	The £12 million is available this financial year to local authorities to support activities in the Connecting Communities' areas. This money was announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement but has not been previously allocated.
	Connecting Communities is an ambitious programme of work to reinvigorate and re-involve groups in areas that are feeling the pressure of the recession most acutely. Around 100 areas around the country have been identified for a targeted programme of work that will focus on alleviating those pressures and making sure that real help is available. Practical actions delivered on estates and streets will focus on developing a real insight into what is happening in those communities and introduce changes that will address local people's concerns, reconnect them with jobs and tackle the real and perceived sense of unfairness some people are feeling.

Departmental Consultants

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much the  (a) Homes and Communities Agency,  (b) Tenant Services Authority and  (c) Homes and Communities Agency Academy have spent on public affairs consultancy in 2009-10; and what the budget of each for such services is for 2009-10.

John Healey: The HCA and HCA Academy have spent no money on public affairs consultancy in the year to date. The TSA have spent £5,081.86 (including VAT) to date. None of these bodies have plans for any further expenditure on public affairs consultancy this year.

Departmental Non-Domestic Rates

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the rateable value of each of his Department's buildings was on the most recent date for which figures are available based on  (a) the 2005 Rating List and  (b) the draft 2010 Rating List.

Barbara Follett: The rateable values for the Department for Communities and Local Government's Headquarter buildings are listed on the Valuation Office Agency's website at:
	www.voa.gov.uk
	
		
			  £ 
			   2005  2010 
			 Eland House, Victoria, London 6,850,000 11,380,000 
			 Ground, 1(st) and 2(nd) floor Hempstead House, Hemel Hempstead 229,500 224,500 
			 2 Victoria St, Glossop 6,400 6,800 
			 1(st) Floor 232-242 Vauxhall Bridge Rd London 69,000 130,000 
			 Fire Experimental Unit Moreton in Marsh 45,000 56,000 
			 1(st) Floor Sheffield House Stevenage 37,250 45,250

Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what recent guidance his Department has issued on the design of waste collection services and facilities in new housing;
	(2)  with reference to his Department's publication, Code for Sustainable Homes: a step-change in sustainable home building practice, what guidelines his Department has issued on the minimum volume of space required for  (a) residential waste storage and  (b) recycling; and what assumptions are made in the guidelines on the size and number of household wheeled refuse containers that could fit into that space.

Ian Austin: The Government provide a requirement and guidance for the design of waste collection services and facilities in new housing, such as waste bins, in Part H6 of Schedule 1 of the Building Regulations 2000, and in Category 5—Waste, of the Code for Sustainable Homes (the Code.)
	The requirement set out in Part H6 will be met if the solid waste storage is:
	designed and sited so as not to be prejudicial to health;
	of sufficient area having regard to the requirements of the waste collection authority for the number and size of receptacles under Sections 46 and 47 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990;
	sited so as to be accessible for use by people in the building and of ready access for removal to the collection point specified by the waste collection authority under Sections 4 and 47 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
	The Waste Category of the Code for Sustainable Homes (the Code) provides a mandatory requirement and guidance for the provision of storage space for residential waste and for recycling waste.
	The mandatory requirements within the Code Waste Category, is based around British Standard 5906 2005 (l00 litres for the first bedroom and then a further 70 1itres for each additional bedroom). The requirements in the Code will be met if:
	space is provided for storage of containers for separated waste, with a combined capacity of 0.25m(3) or in agreement with the waste collection authority;
	adequate external space is provided to accommodate a local authority recycling scheme offering containers equal to or greater than the above volume;
	all the containers are accessible to disabled people.

Housing: Sustainable Development

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many housing units have been fully assessed by his Department under the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes have been accredited to Level 6 under the Code for Sustainable Homes to date.

Ian Austin: Code level 6 is a zero carbon home with very high sustainability standards and is an incredibly high standard to build to. However, we now have a growing number of homes been built to this higher level of code.
	It takes between 18 months and two years to design and build a code home. The code came into operation in April 2007, but we did not start seeing homes built to the code standard until late 2008. The numbers of code homes are increasing every month. There are a total of 1,018 homes with code certificates spread across all code levels at post-construction stage (i.e. completed code homes), 5,630 at design stage and over 300,000 registered homes on over 3000 developments. Most of these homes are built to code level 3—which represents for energy a 25 per cent. improvement on the current Building Regulations and is a demanding building standard. Homes are funded to this level by the Homes and Communities Agency.
	There are two stages in the assessment process for the Code for Sustainable Homes (the Code). At design stage there have been 12 homes accredited at code level 6 and at post-construction stage there have been six homes accredited.

Housing: Sustainable Development

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the average cost incurred in addition to the cost of meeting the requirement of Building Regulations in meeting the requirements of each level of the Code of Sustainable Homes Code in respect of  (a) detached housing,  (b) end-of-terrace housing,  (c) low-rise flats and  (d) high-rise flats.

Ian Austin: Costs were published 21 July 2008 in Cost Analysis of The Code for Sustainable Homes: Final Report. No differentiation between high rise and low rise flats is available. The costs are estimates and are not definitive.

Housingmoves: Internet

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) unique visitors and  (b) page impressions were received by the housingmoves.org website in each of the last 12 months.

Ian Austin: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Website Statistics: 'housingmoves' 
			  From  To  (a) Unique visitors  (b) Page impressions 
			 July 2007(1) March 2008 3,523 4,101 
			 April 2008 March 2009 14,309 21,866 
			 April 2009 October 2009(2) 11,453 23,100 
			 (1) The housingmoves website went on-line in July 2007. (2) Data for October 2009 is current up to and including 27 October 2009. 
		
	
	Each move results in a net saving to Treasury of about £12,000 (or £2.4 million for 200 moves each year—based on a 2004 Departmental economic study) based on savings: in the cost of temporary accommodation; in the cost of managing empty properties; and the costs of housing benefit payments.
	To enable these high value and high demand moves the staff provide:
	A brokering service to match registered applicants with suitable homes as they become available
	a 'drop-in' service for older and often vulnerable applicants where they can meet with an adviser face to face to assist with enquiries, housing options and applications
	a telephone helpline for applicants to advise on housing options; the progress of applications; and the availability of alternative accommodation
	marketing for the scheme to increase landlord and tenant participation including the identification and use of hard to let social stock (such as sheltered housing).
	In addition the staff provide the housing brokerage service for vulnerable British Nationals returning under the Zimbabwe Resettlement Programme.

Housingmoves: Internet

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding his Department has provided for the housingmoves.org website in each of the last three years; what other sources of funding the service has; and how much has been allocated by his Department to the website for  (a) 2009-10 and  (b) 2010-11.

Ian Austin: The Department has provided funding for the housingmoves.org website as detailed as follows. There are no other sources of funding.
	
		
			£ 
			  From  To  Website development 
			 July 2007(1) March 2008 700 
			 April 2008 March 2009 35,500 
			 April 2009 October 2009(2) 16,000 
			 (1) The housingmoves website went on-line in July 2007. (2) Data for October 2009 is current up to and including 27 October 2009. 
		
	
	The Department has also allocated funding for the website in 2009-10 of £5,000 and funding for 2010-11 has yet to be allocated.
	To enable these high value and high demand moves the staff provided:
	A brokering service to match registered applicants with suitable homes as they become available
	a 'drop-in' service for older and often vulnerable applicants where they can meet with an adviser face to face to assist with enquiries, housing options and applications
	a telephone helpline for applicants to advise on housing options; the progress of applications; and the availability of alternative accommodation
	marketing for the scheme to increase landlord and tenant participation including the identification and use of hard to let social stock (such as sheltered housing).
	In addition the staff provide the housing brokerage service for vulnerable British Nationals returning under the Zimbabwe Resettlement Programme.

Non-Domestic Rates

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many hereditaments in London will be liable for supplementary business rate in London from April 2010.

Barbara Follett: The Business Rate Supplements Act 2009 provides a discretionary power for upper tier authorities to levy a supplement on the business rate to promote additional local economic development projects. The levying authority has discretion to set the threshold for liability for the Business Rate Supplement anywhere above the minimum of £50,000 rateable value.
	The Mayor of London has just finished consulting on his proposals to levy a Business Rate Supplement from April 2010 as part of the funding package for Crossrail. The minimum threshold provided in legislation means that no more than 50,000 business properties in London on the draft 2010 rating list (18 per cent. of all London properties on that list) will be liable for BRS, with discretion for the Mayor to set a higher threshold exempting additional properties. The dataset used is consistent with the consultation document titled: "The transitional arrangements for the non-domestic rating revaluation 2010 in England", published on 8 July 2009. The number of hereditaments actually liable for the Business Rate Supplement in London will depend on the level at which the Mayor chooses to set the threshold.

Non-Domestic Rates: Valuation

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how many hereditaments were on the Valuation Office Agency's Rating List with SCAT Code 279 in each year since 1997;
	(2)  how many hereditaments were on the Valuation Office Agency's Rating List with SCAT Code 123 in each year since 1997;
	(3)  how many hereditaments were on the Valuation Office Agency's Rating List with SCAT code 049 in each year since 1997;
	(4)  how many hereditaments were on the Valuation Office Agency's Rating List with SCAT code 228 in each year since 1997;
	(5)  how many hereditaments were on the Valuation Office Agency's Rating List with SCAT code 429 in each year since 1997.

Barbara Follett: The available information requested is given in the following tables and relates to information contained in the:
	1995 Rating Lists—effective 1 April 1995 to 31 March 2000
	2000 Rating Lists—effective 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2005
	2005 Rating Lists—effective 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2010.
	Figures are not comparable across this period due to changes in the use of special category (SCAT) codes. In particular:
	SCAT Code 429 is effective from 1 April 2000.
	SCAT Codes 049, 123, 228 and 279 existed in the 1995 Rating Lists but for different classes of property than they represent in the 2000 and 2005 rating lists.
	Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
	
		
			  Sports stadiums, England 
			  As at 1 April each year   Number 
			 1997  SCAT Code 279 50 
			 1998  50 
			 1999  50 
		
	
	
		
			  Theatres, England 
			  As at 1 April each year   Number 
			 2000  SCAT Code 279 580 
			 2001  600 
			 2002  600 
			 2003  610 
			 2004  650 
			 2005  620 
			 2006  640 
			 2007  650 
			 2008  670 
			 2009  670 
		
	
	
		
			  Private hospitals/clinics, England 
			  1 April each year   Number 
			 1997  SCAT Code 123 340 
			 1998  350 
			 1999  360 
		
	
	
		
			  Gypsy camp sites (short stay), England 
			  As at 1 April each year   Number 
			 2000  SCAT Code 123 (1)— 
			 2001  (1)— 
			 2002  (1)— 
			 2003  (1)— 
			 2004  (1)— 
			 2005  10 
			 2006  10 
			 2007  10 
			 2008  (1)— 
			 2009  (1)— 
			 (1) Less than 10. 
		
	
	
		
			  Cold stores, England 
			  As at 1 April each year   Number 
			 1997  SCAT Code 049 380 
			 1998  370 
			 1999  370 
		
	
	
		
			  Casinos and gambling clubs, England 
			  As at 1 April each year   Number 
			 2000  SCAT Code 049 110 
			 2001  110 
			 2002  120 
			 2003  120 
			 2004  150 
			 2005  130 
			 2006  140 
			 2007  150 
			 2008  160 
			 2009  160 
		
	
	
		
			  Public conveniences, England 
			  As at 1 April each year   Number 
			 1997  SCAT Code 228 5,610 
			 1998  5,530 
			 1999  5,430 
		
	
	
		
			  Public telephone kiosks, England 
			  As at 1 April each year   Number 
			 2000  SCAT Code 228 1,040 
			 2001  1,190 
			 2002  1,320 
			 2003  1,340 
			 2004  1,330 
			 2005  1,260 
			 2006  1,200 
			 2007  1,160 
			 2008  1,130 
			 2009  1,100 
		
	
	
		
			  Post offices,( 1)  England 
			  As at 1 April each year   Number 
			 2000  SCAT Code 429 1,410 
			 2001  1,500 
			 2002  1,660 
			 2003  1,820 
			 2004  1,820 
			 2005  3,530 
			 2006  3,420 
			 2007  3,400 
			 2008  3,370 
			 2009  3,240 
			 (1) Prior to 1 April 2005 some post offices were included under other SCAT codes.

Planning Applications Review

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to Recommendation 1 of the Killian Pretty Review of the planning application process of November 2008, how many and what proportion of  (a) minor non-residential and  (b) householder developments have been removed from the need to apply for full planning permission.

Ian Austin: Recommendation 1 of the Killian Pretty review was that Government should substantially reduce the number of minor non-domestic developments requiring planning permission. This recommendation made no reference to householder developments, which had already been subject to reforms, introduced in October 2008.
	In response to Recommendation 1, proposals to remove approximately 25,000 minor non-domestic developments from the need to submit full planning applications annually in England (approximately 30 per cent. of all minor-non domestic applications) were the subject of public consultation between 30 July and 23 October 2009. Subject to the outcome of our consideration of the consultation responses, secondary legislation enacting these proposals is expected in April 2010.

Right to Buy Scheme

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many right-to-buy sales there were in  (a) 1980,  (b) 1985,  (c) 1990,  (d) 1995,  (e) 2000 and  (f) each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what total of capital receipts was received by local authorities in each such year.

Ian Austin: Figures showing the number of local authority right to buy sales are included in Live Table 670 on the CLG website, broken down by region and year, from 1980-81:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/1319866.xls
	Figures on capital receipts from local authority right to buy sales are included in Live Table 643, from 1998-99. Figures on capital receipts are not available for earlier years:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/1319845.xls
	Figures showing the number of registered social landlord (RSL) right to buy sales are included in Live Table 675 on the CLG website, broken down by region and year, from 1996-97. Figures on sales of RSL properties are not available for earlier years, and figures are not available showing total RSL capital receipts:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/1319878.xls
	The local authority right to buy data are from quarterly P1B returns from local authorities to CLG.
	The registered social landlord right to buy data are from Regulatory and Statistical Returns (RSR) from RSLs to the Tenant Services Authority (TSA).

Offences against Children: Internet

Margaret Moran: To ask the Solicitor-General how much and what proportion of the budget of the Law Officers' Departments for 2009-10 has been allocated to the prosecution of offences of viewing online images of child abuse; and if she will make a statement.

Vera Baird: Although the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is able to identify the number of offences of possessing an indecent photograph of a child and of making an indecent photograph of a child which proceeded to a first hearing, it is not possible to identify from CPS sources how many of these offences related to online images and how many to images in other media.
	It is also not possible to assess how much the CPS spends on prosecuting offences of viewing online child abuse images generally.
	CPS areas are allocated budgets taking into account their overall caseload and other pressures. The budget allocation process does not seek to assess caseload at a detailed level in terms of individual offences.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much her Department spent on  (a) car hire,  (b) train travel,  (c) air travel,  (d) hotels and  (e) restaurant meals for (i) Ministers and (ii) staff in her Department in each of the last five years.

Jim Knight: The information is not available in the format requested. Separate information on restaurant meals is not available. Such information as is available is in the following tables.
	
		
			  Total expenditure 
			  £ million 
			   Car hire  Rail  Air  Hotel 
			 2004-05 n/a 14.0 4.7 12.0 
			 2005-06 n/a 15.6 4.7 12.3 
			 2006-07 1.5 15.6 3.1 11.5 
			 2007-08 1.5 17.6 3.8 11.6 
			 2008-09 2.3 19.8 3.5 12.3 
			 n/a = Not available. 
		
	
	
		
			  Ministerial expenditure 
			  £ 
			   Car hire  Rail  Air  Hotel 
			 2007-08 0 17,530 30,115 1,631 
			 2008-09 0 21,426 32,947 1,936 
			 n/a = Not available. 
		
	
	Information is not available for Ministers prior to 2007-08.
	Expenditure relating to the use of the Government Car Service is not included in the figures quoted above. Information about the cost of ministerial cars is published each year in a written ministerial statement. The relevant information can be found at the following links:
	 2005-06 and 2006-07:
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070726/wmstext/70726m0004.htm#07072644000046
	 2007-08:
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080722/wmstext/80722m0008.htm#08072253000045
	 2008-09:
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090716/wmstext/90716m0009.htm#09071651000059
	The figures provided should be read in the context of a Department of over 100,000 staff operating from over 1,000 locations across Great Britain.
	It is also worth noting that the increase in car hire expenditure has been more than offset by a reduction in 'grey fleet' mileage and expenditure. The reduction in such mileage from 2007-08 to 2008-09 was 8.8 million miles, representing a £3.6 million reduction in expenditure.
	Travel by Ministers and civil servants is undertaken in accordance with the "Ministerial Code" and the "Civil Service Management Code".

Departmental Sick Leave

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many sick days have been taken by staff of her Department in each of the last five years; and what the cost of such absences was in each such year.

Jim Knight: The available information is in the following table. The figures reflect data currently recorded on the Department's personnel computer system.
	The Department has reduced the number of days sick leave taken by its staff to 8.5 days per staff year, resulting in a cut of sick pay as a proportion of total salary from 3 per cent. to 2 per cent. in three years.
	Further reducing sickness absence and its associated cost is a top priority for the Department.
	
		
			   Sick days taken by staff  Sick days as a percentage of working days available  Cost of absences (£ million) 
			 2008-09 849,448 3.95 59.8 
			 2007-08 1,052,557 4.48 75.1 
			 2006-07 1,256,157 4.39 90.5 
			 2005-06 1,335,694 4.25 n/a 
			 2004-05 1,702,691 5.05 n/a 
			  Notes: 1. The cost of absences shown is the total amount of salary paid during periods of sick leave. 2. Cost data for 2004-05 and 2005-06 were not available centrally and could be calculated only at disproportionate costs.

Departmental Visits Abroad

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much her Department spent on overnight accommodation for  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials while overseas in each of the last three years.

Jim Knight: The Department for Work and Pensions spent the following amounts on overnight accommodation for staff while overseas in each of the last three years:
	
		
			   Hotel (£) 
			 April 2006 to March 2007 83,263 
			 April 2007 to March 2008 112,427 
			 April 2008 to March 2009 166,821 
		
	
	The information for Ministers is not available in the format requested.
	Travel by Ministers and civil servants is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code respectively and the Cabinet Office provides the annual list of overseas travel over £500 undertaken by Ministers. The 2008-09 list was published on 16 July and can be viewed at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/propriety_and_ethics/ministers/travel_gifts.aspx

Disadvantaged: Merkinch

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much the Highland ward of Merkinch received from the deprived areas funding 2008-09; and how much it is expected to receive in 2009-10.

Jim Knight: For the period 2008-09, the Highland ward of Merkinch received £24,000 of deprived areas funding. For the period 2009-10, negotiations are ongoing with a provider and as yet no money has been allocated.

Fuel Poverty

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of households have been living in fuel poverty in  (a) Yorkshire and the Humber and  (b) England in each year since 1997.

David Kidney: I have been asked to reply.
	The most recently available fuel poverty statistics relate to 2007.
	Regional data are available from 2003 only. The following table shows the figures for Yorkshire and the Humber region:
	
		
			  Yorkshire and the Humber 
			   Number of fuel poor households (Thousand)  Percentage of all households 
			 2003 180 8.6 
			 2004 163 7.7 
			 2005 169 8.0 
			 2006 273 12.7 
			 2007 333 15.5 
		
	
	The following table shows fuel poverty estimates for England from 1996 to 2007. Fuel poverty figures are not available for 1997, 1999 and 2000.
	
		
			  England 
			   Number of fuel poor households (Million)  Percentage of all households 
			 1996 5.1 25.0 
			 1998(1) 3.4 — 
			 2001 1.7 8.1 
			 2002(1) 1.4 — 
			 2003 1.2 5.9 
			 2004 1.2 5.9 
			 2005 1.5 7.2 
			 2006 2.4 11.5 
			 2007 2.8 13.2 
			 (1) Estimates of the total number of households for 1998 and 2002 are not available on a consistent basis with other years.

Incapacity Benefit

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people resident in  (a) England,  (b) the North East,  (c) Tees Valley and  (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency have received incapacity benefit in each year since 1997.

Jonathan R Shaw: The information requested is in the table.
	
		
			  Incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance claimants at February in each year since 1997 
			  As at February  England  North East  Tees Valley Jobcentre Plus District  Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency 
			 1997 2,233,600 196,000 46,300 6,200 
			 1998 2,214,600 191,700 44,600 6,000 
			 1999 2,168,700 185,700 44,000 5,500 
			 2000 2,156,060 184,210 43,880 5,710 
			 2001 2,214,930 188,610 45,180 5,960 
			 2002 2,217,260 187,910 44,860 5,870 
			 2003 2,247,980 188,790 45,870 6,040 
			 2004 2,256,210 185,660 45,470 5,990 
			 2005 2,246,460 180,030 44,940 5,940 
			 2006 2,209,710 172,910 43,450 5,820 
			 2007 2,180,870 166,790 41,920 5,630 
			 2008 2,151,910 159,850 45,550 5,410 
			 2009 2,002,400 144,530 37,010 4,950 
			  Notes: 1. Tees Valley Jobcentre Plus district is comprised of the following local authorities: Darlington; Hartlepool; Middlesbrough; Redcar and Cleveland; Stockton. 2. Employment and support allowance replaced incapacity benefit and income support paid on the grounds of incapacity for new claims from 27 October 2008. 3. These data do not include claimants of employment and support allowance.  Source: Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 5 per cent. and 100 per cent. data.

Incapacity Benefit: Norwich

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants of incapacity benefit (IB) there were in Norwich North constituency in  (a) 1997 and  (b) 2007; how many claimants of employment and support allowance (ESA) in the constituency there are now; and how much has been spent on (i) IB in each year between 1997 and 2008 and (ii) ESA since it was introduced.

Jonathan R Shaw: The available information is in the tables.
	
		
			  Number of claimants of incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance in the Norwich North constituency at the end of February 1997 and February 2007 
			   Number 
			 February 1997 3,900 
			 February 2007 3,980 
			  Notes: i. The total number of incapacity benefit claimants is collected for each quarter. Some individuals are claimants for more than one quarter and would be counted more than once if the figures for all four quarters were added together. Therefore the figures provided show the number of claimants there were at the end of February for 1997 and 2007 ii. Figures from 1997 have been rounded to the nearest 100. iii. Figures from 2007 have been rounded to the nearest 10.  Source:  Department for Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study, 5 per cent. and 100 per cent. data. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of claimants of employment and support allowance in the Norwich North constituency at the end of February 2009 
			   Number 
			 February 2009 270 
			  Notes: i. The end of February 2009 is the latest date for which Employment and Support Allowance claimant figures are available.  Source:  Department for Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. 
		
	
	
		
			  Incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance expenditure for Great Britain and the Norwich North constituency 
			   £ million, nominal terms  £ million, 2009-10 prices 
			   Great Britain  Norwich North  Great Britain  Norwich North 
			 1997-98 8,411.1 10.4 11,036.5 13.6 
			 1998-99 8,234.8 10.6 10,580.2 13.6 
			 1999-00 7,796.3 10.6 9,823.7 13.4 
			 2000-01 7,780.4 10.7 9,676.7 13.3 
			 2001-02 7,788.7 11.1 9,475.8 13.5 
			 2002-03 7,715.6 11.0 9,093.7 13.0 
			 2003-04 7,660.2 10.9 8,778.2 12.5 
			 2004-05 7,580.4 11.2 8,456.7 12.5 
			 2005-06 7,550.1 11.3 8,253.9 12.4 
			 2006-07 7,469.7 11.2 7,948.4 11.9 
			 2007-08 7,556.5 11.5 7,822.9 11.9 
			 2008-09 7,403.6 11.5 7,477.6 11.6 
			  Notes: i. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred thousand. ii. Figures converted to 2009-10 prices using GDP deflators published by HM Treasury at Budget 2009 iii. Nominal figures represent actual expenditure and 2009-10 prices represent what the expenditure is worth in today's prices.  Source:  Department for Work and Pensions Statistical and Accounting Data 
		
	
	
		
			  Employment and support allowance expenditure for Great Britain and the Norwich North constituency 
			   £ million, nominal terms  £ million, 2009-10 prices 
			   Great Britain  Norwich North  Great Britain  Norwich North 
			 2008-09 127.3 n/a 128.6 n/a 
			 n/a = Not available  Notes: i. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred thousand. ii. Figures converted to 2009-10 prices using GDP deflators published by HM Treasury at Budget 2009. iii. Nominal figures represent actual expenditure and 2009-10 prices represent what the expenditure is worth in today's prices.  Source:  Department for Work and Pensions Statistical and Accounting Data

Mesothelioma: Death

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have died from mesothelioma in  (a) South Tyneside,  (b) the North East and  (c) the UK in each year since 2006.

Jonathan R Shaw: The following table shows the number of mesothelioma deaths for South Tyneside, the north-east and for the United Kingdom for 2006 and 2007 (the latest year for which data are available).
	
		
			  Number 
			   2006( 1)  2007( 1) 
			 South Tyneside 10 8 
			 North East 118 136 
			 United Kingdom 2,108 2,192 
			 (1) Provisional.   Sources: 1. Health and Safety Executive; British Mesothelioma Register.  2. Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland; deaths recorded as mesothelioma as primary or secondary cause of death.

New Deal Schemes

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people who have received assistance through New Deal schemes to undertake voluntary work or training subsequently entered employment lasting five weeks or longer.

Jim Knight: The information is not held in the exact format requested. However the first table shows the number of people (in thousands) who have left the new deal for young people, from periods of voluntary work or training, up to the latest date for which figures are available. The second table shows the number of people (in thousands) who have left the new deal 25 Plus, from periods of training, up to the latest date for which figures are available.
	
		
			  Last activity under new deal for young people  Voluntary sector  Full-time education/training 
			 New deal leavers—destination was sustained work 29.39 41.34 
			 New deal leavers—destination was employment and benefits 1.20 1.71 
			 New deal leavers—destination was benefits 11.60 16.44 
			 Other new deal leavers—(including destination unknown) 17.44 31.86 
		
	
	
		
			  Last activity under new deal 25 plus  Training 
			 New deal leavers—destination was sustained work 15.02 
			 New deal leavers—destination was employment and benefits 0.57 
			 New deal leavers—destination was benefits 12.19 
			 Other new deal leavers—(including destination unknown) 12.85 
			  Notes:  1. Figures are displayed in thousands, and rounded to the nearest 10.  2. The destination from new deal is measured within two weeks of leaving new deal, using information from the Work and Pensions longitudinal study (WPLS).  3. The latest available information is to February 2009.  4. A sustained job is defined as a job from which a participant does not return to jobseeker's allowance within 13 weeks.  5. The total for new deal 25 plus training includes those people whose last activity on new deal 25 plus was recorded as 'Basic Employability Training/Basic Skills', 'IAP Training' or 'Education and Training Opportunities'. The new deal for young people and new deal 25 plus are the only schemes which have the options stage.  Source:  Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate. The figures are available at http://research/dwp.gov.uk/asd/tabtool.asp

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the monetary cost to her Department has been of implementing voice risk analysis technology for the detection of benefit fraud in each year since its introduction.

Jim Knight: holding answer 20 October 2009
	The Department has not yet introduced voice risk analysis technology, but it has been running pilots to test the effectiveness of the technology since 2007-08.
	In 2007-08 a total of £460,000 was paid directly to the seven local authorities piloting voice risk analysis, and £240,333 was spent within the Department for Work and Pensions for a pilot conducted in Jobcentre Plus.
	In 2008-09 a total of £1,734,314.07 was paid directly to the 24 local authorities involved in the second phase of pilots. This second phase of piloting is due to come to an end in December 2009.

Unemployment Benefits

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether her Department plans to provide transitional payments to jobseekers who have found work; and if she will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The Government offer a comprehensive package of transitional payments, through Jobcentre Plus, to support customers returning to work after claiming benefits.
	Job Grants are paid automatically to customers who are leaving benefit after a continuous period of 26 weeks and are starting a job that is expected to last at least five weeks and is for at least 16 hours per week, or 24 hours for partners. There are two rates of payment, £100 for single customers and couples without children and £250 for lone parents and couples with children.
	Housing benefit and council tax benefit run on is available for the first four weeks in work, to customers who have been claiming a specified benefit continuously for 26 weeks or more when they, or their partner, start remunerative work expected to last at least five weeks.
	For homeowners, mortgage interest run on (MIRO) is available for the first four weeks in work, to customers in receipt of a qualifying benefit for 26 weeks or more when they, or their partner, start remunerative work expected to last at least five weeks. The customer must have been in receipt of mortgage/home loan interest or other eligible housing costs before starting work and remain liable to make such payments.
	At adviser discretion, eligible customers can be considered for an Advisor Discretion Fund award to cover transitional costs associated with starting work, for example, travel costs, work clothes and tools, and up-front childcare costs for lone parents for the first two weeks of employment.
	In Work Credit is an incentive designed to help lone parents, and both lone and couple parents in the New Deal Plus for Lone Parent pilot areas, to make the transition from welfare in to full time work and is paid for a maximum of 52 weeks. This is tax-free and payable on top of any other in-work benefits and tax credits to which the lone parent may be entitled.
	It offers a payment of £40 per week, or £60 per week in the London Districts, and is payable to eligible lone parents (and both lone and couple parents in the New Deal plus for lone Parent pilot areas) who move into work of more than 16 hours per week, or 24 hours or more for a partner of a Jobseeker's Allowance or Income Support customer in the London districts.
	Through the childcare subsidy, lone parents can claim help with the costs for registered childcare whilst they are working less than 16 hours a week up to a maximum of £87.50 per week for one child or £150 per week for two or more children for up to 52 weeks if the job: complies with employment legislation; is for up to 16 hours a week; is waged employment (not voluntary work or work experience); is expected to last for at least five weeks and is undertaken on the recommendation of a personal adviser, as part of an agreed action plan for return to the labour market.
	Childcare assist is available to all New Deal for Lone Parents and New Deal for Partners participants. It allows for the payment of formal or approved childcare for up to five days in the week immediately before the parent starts work. It also leaves them free to undertake activities required in preparation for starting work, without the worry of arranging childcare. Childcare Assist also helps, through financial support, with the transition from welfare to work.
	The return to work credit is a work incentive to encourage customers to move into work from incapacity benefits or employment support allowance. The return to work credit offers eligible customers, who find work of at least 16 hours a week, and where certain other eligibility conditions are satisfied, a weekly payment of £40 for up to 52 weeks if their gross annual earnings are below £15,000.
	The Rapid Response Service helps employers support their employees faced with redundancy to swiftly find alternative work. The Rapid Response Service funding is available to plug gaps in existing provision and overcome immediate barriers to finding work.
	On an ad hoc basis and according to the particular barriers faced by an individual, funding for such things as travel and childcare costs can continue for a short period after someone finds work.

Vacancies

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of vacancies were advertised in job centres in each of the last six months for which figures are available.

Jim Knight: holding answer 9 September 2009
	Available information is shown in the following tables.
	
		
			  Number of job vacancies in Great Britain advertised by Jobcentre Plus in each of the last six months 
			  2009  Live unfilled vacancies 
			 February 238,554 
			 March 231,908 
			 April 212,718 
			 May 217,700 
			 June 211,378 
			 July 205,457 
			  Notes: 1. Data are unrounded, and not seasonally adjusted. 2. The Jobcentre Plus data does not cover the whole UK economy. Coverage relates just to vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus and as such represent a market share of vacancies throughout the whole economy. This proportion varies over time, according to the occupation of the vacancy and industry of the employer, and by local area. Comprehensive estimates of all job vacancies (not just those notified to Jobcentre Plus) are available from the monthly ONS Vacancy Survey since April 2001, based on a sample of some 6,000 enterprises. However, the ONS survey is currently designed to provide national estimates only. 3. The stocks of live unfilled vacancies reflect more accurately job opportunities available via Jobcentre Plus. In the case of unfilled vacancies, use of the figures on live vacancies is recommended (i.e. excluding suspended vacancies), and this is the default option. Live vacancies may still include some vacancies which have already been filled or are otherwise no longer open to recruits, due to natural lags in procedures for following up vacancies with employers. 4. Jobcentre Plus figures are published at: www.nomisweb.co.uk  Source: Jobcentre Plus labour market system. 
		
	
	
		
			  Office for National Statistics :  UK Vacancy Survey 
			   Level of vacancies 
			 December 2008 to February 2009 445,000 
			 January to March 2009 444,700 
			 February to April 2009 451,200 
			 March to May 2009 444,200 
			 April to June 2009 434,400 
			 May to July 2009 437,700 
			  Notes: 1. Data are rounded to the nearest hundred, displayed in thousands and are seasonally adjusted three-month averages. 2. Excludes agriculture, forestry and fishing. 3. April, May and June data on the ONS monthly vacancies estimate has been revised and July data are provisional. 4. ONS monthly vacancies estimates published at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/LatestData.xls  Source: Office for National Statistics Vacancy Survey. 
		
	
	We do not have a recent estimate of the proportion of vacancies in the UK economy advertised at Jobcentre Plus. There have been some one-off surveys that have estimated the Jobcentre Plus share of all vacancies. In 2002, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) used one such survey to estimate the proportion of total vacancies advertised at jobcentres at 44 per cent. Allowing for sampling variation, the ratio was likely to be in the range of around a third to a half. However, this estimate is likely to have changed over time.
	Although we have estimates of the total number of vacancies in the UK economy from the ONS Vacancy Survey, the data from Jobcentre Plus and the ONS Vacancy Survey are not directly comparable, and so should not be used together to produce such an estimate. The Vacancy Survey is a sample-based survey of businesses in the UK and is seasonally adjusted, whereas the Jobcentre Plus data is administrative data that is subject to a high level of seasonality. In addition, there are coverage issues, with the Vacancy Survey covering only civilian vacancies and excluding agriculture, forestry and fishing, whereas the Jobcentre Plus data includes non-civilian vacancies. Both measures are snap-shots of the number of opportunities available at a particular point in time and do not reflect the dynamism of the labour market that sees thousands of new job vacancies come up every day.

Voluntary Work

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of  (a) the average number of hours volunteered per week and  (b) the total number of hours volunteered by participants in the voluntary option of her Department's Six Month Offer.

Jim Knight: The information requested is not available.

Winter Fuel Payments: Pensioners

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will estimate the saving to the Exchequer of increasing the age of entitlement to winter fuel payments to 65 years in each of the next five financial years.

Angela Eagle: holding answer 3 November 2009
	Increasing the age of entitlement of winter fuel payments to 65 in each of the next five financial years would result in the estimated savings outlined in the following table.
	
		
			   Savings (£ million) 
			 2010-11 480 
			 2011-12 420 
			 2012-13 340 
			 2013-14 270 
			 2014-15 220 
			  Notes: 1. Savings are modelled on increasing age of entitlement to winter fuel payments to 65 by 2020, against a scenario where age entitlement to winter fuel payments increases to 65 in 2010-11. Modelling assumes anyone 60-64 currently receiving winter fuel payment would no longer receive it. 2. Savings are based on winter fuel payments baseline rates of £200 for households with those aged between 60 and 79. 3. Savings are for each financial year and become smaller as the age of entitlement increases under current legislation. 4. Expenditure rounded to the nearest £10 million and are in 2009-10 price term.

Google Adword Online Advertising Keywords

Nick Hurd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office for which Google Adword on-line advertising keywords her Department has paid in the last 12 months.

Tessa Jowell: The Department has paid under £200 for Google online advertising keywords in the last 12 months. This service was used as part of the initial launch of Building Britain's Future website, and the keywords were based on "Building Britain's Future".

Green Ministers Committee

Colin Challen: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office on how many occasions the Green Ministers Committee has met in 2009; and which Ministers attended each such meeting.

Tessa Jowell: There is currently no 'Green Ministers' Cabinet Committee. Issues relating to energy and the environment would generally be dealt with through ED (Environment and Energy) Committee, or its parent Committee, ED. A full list of Cabinet Committees, their membership and terms of reference can be found in the Libraries of the House
	Information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees, including when and how often they meet, is generally not disclosed, as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.

Mesothelioma

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people have been diagnosed with mesothelioma in  (a) Jarrow Constituency,  (b) South Tyneside,  (c) the North East and  (d) the UK in each year since 2005.

Ann Keen: I have been asked to reply.
	The information on the number of people who required treatment for mesothelioma is not held centrally. Requested information on count of finished consultant episodes, where the primary diagnosis was mesothelioma is provided in the following table for England, South Tyneside Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the relevant strategic health authorities (SHAs). It should be noted that Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA and County Durham and Tees Valley SHA combined to form the North East SHA in 2006-07. This information is not centrally held for the United Kingdom.
	
		
			  Count of finished consultant episodes where the primary diagnosis was Mesothelioma( 1)  for selected organisations national health service hospitals , England and activity performed in the Independent sector in England commissioned by English NHS 1997-98 to 2008-09 
			   England  North East Strategic Health Authority  South Tyneside PCT as PCT of residence 
			 2008-09 7,349 708 104 
			 2007-08 6,968 735 77 
			 2006-07 6,677 735 69 
		
	
	
		
			   England  Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA as SHA of residence  County Durham and Tees Valley SHA as SHA of residence  South Tyneside PCT as PCT of residence 
			 2005-06 6,436 316 303 40 
			 2004-05 5,671 348 242 28 
			 2003-04 5,697 443 230 56 
			 2002-03 4,685 267 173 53 
			 2001-02 4,663 321 129 59 
			 2000-01 4,442 315 122 57 
			 1999-2000 4,155 401 121 58 
			 1998-99 3,773 373 98 39 
			 1997-98 3,075 186 69 11 
			  Notes: 1. Finished Consultant Episode (FCE)—An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. It should be noted that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year. 2. Diagnosis (Primary Diagnosis)—The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) dataset and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital. (1)The ICD-10 codes used in this analysis were as follows: C45 Mesothelioma; D19 Benign neoplasm of mesothelial tissue 3. Assessing growth through time—HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. During the years that these records have been collected the NHS there have been ongoing improvements in quality and coverage. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example a number of procedures may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and may no longer be accounted in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity over time. 4. PCT and SHA Data Quality—PCT and SHA data were added to historic data-years in the HES database using 2002-03 boundaries, as a one-off exercise in 2004. The quality of the data on PCT of Treatment and SHA of Treatment is poor in 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99, with over a third of all finished episodes having missing values in these years. Data quality of PCT of general practitioner (GP) practice and SHA of GP practice in 1997-98 and 1998-99 is also poor, with a high proportion missing values where practices changed or ceased to exist. There is less change in completeness of the residence-based fields over time, where the majority of unknown values are due to missing postcodes on birth episodes. Users of time series analysis including these years need to be aware of these issues in their interpretation of the data. 5. Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA and County Durham and Tees Valley SHA combined to form the North East SHA in 2006-07.  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Information Centre for health and social care

Personal Income

David Crausby: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent estimate the UK Statistics Authority has made of the ratio of female to male earnings in Great Britain.

Angela Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Jil Matheson, dated November 2009:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the latest estimate is for the ratio of female to male earnings in Great Britain. (298741)
	Average levels of earnings are estimated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), and are provided for all employees on adult rates of pay whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence.
	ONS recently conducted a review of gender pay statistics and found that no single measure could adequately explain the difference in men's and women's pay. ONS's preferred method is to show the pay difference for three measures: all employees, full-time employees and part-time employees.
	The figures provided below come from the 2008 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and show the median hourly earnings, excluding overtime, for female and male employees and the ratio of female to male hourly earnings. The figures provided are for Great Britain.
	
		
			   Hourly rate (£)  Ratio 
			   Female  Male  Female/male 
			 Full-time 10.93 12.55 0.871 
			 Part-time 7.50 7.25 1.034 
			 All employees 9.28 12.00 0.773

Business: Regulation

David Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the number of jobs in the economy as a result of regulations on business introduced since May 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Lucas: There has been no assessment of the overall effect of regulations on employment. Many regulations have net benefits for the economy and may therefore lead to positive impacts on the labour market.
	Creating the right conditions for businesses to start up, grow and invest requires many elements including a strong and responsive regulatory framework. With the best business environment in Europe, and fifth best in the world, according to the World Bank, the UK already has an effective regulatory system which helps strengthen our society and our economy.
	The Government are committed to, and is delivering, an ambitious programme of improving the way they regulate. We know the costs of regulation are a very real concern to businesses, especially in a challenging economic climate, so when we introduce new rules we need to make sure we maximise the benefits to businesses, the economy and society, and ensure the costs are minimised or reduced where possible.
	The recently published benefit/cost ratio:
	http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file53280.pdf
	is an important step in the better regulation agenda, increasing transparency and inviting greater scrutiny that will help improve the credibility and understanding of our regulatory framework further. The fact that the Benefit cost ratio is above 1 indicates that there has been no economic loss which could have caused job losses. This publication, showing that benefits are nearly double the costs of regulation, sets an important benchmark for improving the way that Government regulates.

Departmental Air Travel

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many first-class flights were taken by each Minister in his Department in 2008-09; and what the  (a) origin,  (b) destination and  (c) cost was of each such flight.

Patrick McFadden: Travel by Ministers is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.
	The Department does not hold separate records of the travel undertaken by Ministers as opposed to those undertaken by civil servants, to provide this information would entail disproportionate costs.
	Cabinet Office provides an annual list of overseas travel over £500 undertaken by Ministers. The 2008/2009 list was published on 16 July 2009 and can be viewed at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/propriety_and_ethics/ministers/travel_gifts.aspx

Departmental Finance

John Penrose: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department  (a) has spent since its inception and  (b) plans to spend in 2010-11 on market research to improve the usability of its website.

Patrick McFadden: Since its inception in June, the Department has spent £30,474 (ex VAT) on market research to improve the usability of its website. There are no firm plans for such spending in 2010-11 beyond the annual quality and usage measurements mandated by the Central Office of Information.

Departmental Finance

John Penrose: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department  (a) has spent since its inception and  (b) plans to spend in 2010-11 on (i) the design of its website and (ii) other market research for promotional purposes.

Patrick McFadden: Spend on website design since the creation of BIS is £16,158. There is no anticipated spend on website design in 2010-11.
	The following has been spent since the creation of BIS through the Department's strategic marketing team on market research:
	
		
			   £ 
			 Vulnerable workers campaign—Creative research 32,030 
			 Know Your Consumer Rights campaign—research for public relations campaign 6,500 
			   
			 Science: So what? So everything campaign:  
			 Shape of Jobs to Come (research) 7,500 
			 So Fashion poll (omnibus survey) 500 
			   
			 ICM Online omnibus survey of business leaders 4,860 
			 Questions Kids Ask campaign—omnibus survey 3,500 
			 Total 54,890 
		
	
	Public relations campaigns are used for raising public awareness on specific issues. External contracts are placed taking account of Cabinet Office propriety guidance.
	Details of any other spend on market research are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Reorganisation

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2009,  Official Report, columns 436-7W, on departmental reorganisation, what his most recent estimate is of the cost to the public purse of merging the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to form his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Patrick McFadden: I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 28 October 2009,  Official Report, columns 423-4W.

Departmental Standards

Mark Todd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to implement the efficiency recommendations of the Operational Efficiency programme relating to his Department.

Patrick McFadden: BIS is fully committed to the Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP) and to support this I have accepted the role of Value for Money Minister to ensure the recommendations are implemented.
	BIS is well placed to meet the implementation plan milestones across the OEP areas which support strongly the work the Department already has in place. For example, with collaborative procurement, of the £450 million savings that the Research Councils' Shared Service Centre predicts that it will generate over the first 10 years of its operation, £400 million will come from procurement savings. The Shareholder Executive is leading the asset management strand across Government, and options for the sale of the student loans portfolio are being developed. We are continuing to work with the further and higher education sectors to improve their procurement practices.
	We have recently undertaken an initial benchmarking back office costs exercise. BIS has a large network of partner organisations included in this exercise and has worked hard to collect the relevant data. We will be working with partner organisations and colleagues across Whitehall to develop the benefits from this work.

Electronic Equipment

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what steps his Department is taking to support the electronics manufacturing industry;
	(2)  if he will increase the support available through his Department and its agencies to small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses;
	(3)  what steps his Department is taking to increase the skills level of the workforce in the electronics industry.

Ian Lucas: The UK's electronics sector, and ICT more widely, is increasingly the enabler most likely to give companies in many other sectors their competitive edge, which is why the Government strongly supports it. Most recently, our package of measures to support Advanced Manufacturing announced in July, as part of our "New Industry, New Jobs" initiative, included the expansion of the Printable Electronics Technology centre in Sedgefield through an additional £12 million of investment, seeking to create up to 1,500 jobs by 2014, and an investment of £0.5 million towards the development of a Centre of Excellence for Silicon Design in the South West.
	The Government provide extensive support for the sector via the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). This has included support for the ARTEMIS and ENIAC European Joint Technology initiatives, the Innovative Electronics Manufacturing Research Centre, and the Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network.
	BIS officials also provide support to the sector through their strong links to the Electronics Leadership Council, the sector's trade associations, and the UK Electronics Alliance, and by chairing the Electronics Regulatory Group which works with the sector to identify key regulatory issues affecting electronics companies and to help mitigate regulatory impacts.
	In addition, UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) helps electronics companies to internationalise their businesses by developing their international trade potential with advice, support and access to research. UKTI also helps them access international markets by providing support to attend trade fairs, facilitating meetings with overseas buyers and organising visits to new markets.
	More generally, a wide range of support measures are available to small and medium-sized manufacturers via the Solutions for Business Package and Business Link. These include recent measures under the Real Help for Business initiative, to address the cash flow, credit and investment needs of SMEs, as well as increased support for SMEs through products such as the Manufacturing Advisory Service, which has undergone an £8 million expansion, and plays a vital role in helping UK manufacturers to share knowledge, improve productivity and achieve success in an increasingly competitive global economy.
	We have a wide range of skills programmes and initiatives which are designed to boost the skill levels of the work force. Through its Train to Gain Sector Compact and wider UK work, SEMTA, the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering, Manufacturing and Technologies, has engaged with nearly 2,000 electronics based companies in the UK in the past 12 months to identify and develop the right investment in skills.
	The development of skills in the industry is also provided through our £1 billion (total for the whole economy) a year Apprenticeships programme. In 2007-08, 6,500 people in England started an Advanced (level 3) Apprenticeship in electro-technical occupations—the third most popular framework at Advanced level.
	We are also committed to increasing the number of young people who choose to study STEM (Science, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects post-16. Increasing the STEM qualified proportion of the workforce will contribute to our ability to meet the skills requirements of the electronics industry.

Learning and Skills Council: Consultants

David Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) paid  (a) Fishburn Hedges,  (b) John Barnes and  (c) Ian McMillan as part of the Get on competition on football chants, as referred to in the LSC's press release of 13 August 2009.

Kevin Brennan: The total cost of the activity including agency costs and materials was £21,000 (excluding VAT.) This piece of activity generated a significant amount of national, regional and online media coverage, as well as valuable opportunities within many broadcast programmes on national radio and TV which are vital to reaching the target audience. For this reason, the cost of this activity compares well with the cost of TV and radio advertising. This story is part of the successful 'Get On' literacy and numeracy marketing campaign which has generated 380,000 calls from adults wanting to improve their skills, contributing towards the 2.8 million adults who have improved their literacy and numeracy skills and gained a qualification since 2001.

Low Carbon Zones

Michael Weir: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps the Government has taken to identify designated low carbon zones.

Patrick McFadden: Since the publication of the UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy in July, we have announced two low carbon economic areas. The first located in the south-west of England, focusing on the development of marine energy and the second in the north-east of England focusing on ultra-low carbon vehicles. We have been working with the regional development agencies and industrial partners and will be announcing further low carbon economic areas over the coming few months.

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

David Evennett: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department allocated to each of its non-departmental public bodies in 2008-09.

Patrick McFadden: The level of funding the Department has allocated to its NDPBs in 2008-09 is set out in the following table:
	
		
			  Name of body  Type of body  BIS funding 2008-09 (£000) 
			 Central Arbitration Committee Tribunal NDPB 680 
			 Copyright Tribunal Tribunal NDPB 61 
			 Insolvency Practitioners' Tribunal Tribunal NDPB 0 
			 Competition Appeals Tribunal Tribunal NDPB 0 
			 Learning and Skills Council Executive NDPB 11,894,866 
			 Higher Education Funding Council for England Executive NDPB 7,445,114 
			 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Executive NDPB 784,878 
			 Science and Technology Facilities Council Executive NDPB 602,699 
			 Medical Research Council Executive NDPB 643,000 
			 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Executive NDPB 412,155 
			 North West RDA Executive NDPB 384,704 
			 Advantage West Midlands (RDA) Executive NDPB 295,536 
			 Yorkshire Forward (RDA) Executive NDPB 297,312 
			 Natural Environment Research Council Executive NDPB 395,760 
			 Technology Strategy Board Executive NDPB 222,000 
			 One North East (RDA) Executive NDPB 245,419 
			 South West of England RDA Executive NDPB 169,650 
			 East Midlands RDA Executive NDPB 161,192 
			 South East England RDA Executive NDPB 160,741 
			 Economic and Social Research Council Executive NDPB 178,000 
			 East of England RDA Executive NDPB 131,660 
			 Arts and Humanities Research Council Executive NDPB 114,698 
			 UKCES Executive NDPB 66,635 
			 Student Loans Company Executive NDPB 78,584 
			 Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) Executive NDPB 47,312 
			 Consumer Focus Executive NDPB 23,017 
			 Competition Commission Executive NDPB 20,500 
			 UK Atomic Energy Authority Executive NDPB 8,337 
			 Design Council Executive NDPB 6,435 
			 Investors in People UK (now part of UK CES) Executive NDPB 4.700 
			 Competition Service Executive NDPB 3876 
			 Local Better Regulation Office Executive NDPB 4,400 
			 Capital for Enterprise Ltd Executive NDPB 2,010 
			 Office for Fair Access Executive NDPB 514 
			 British Hallmarking Council Executive NDPB 0 
			 Construction Industry Training Board Executive NDPB 0 
			 Engineering Construction Industry Training Board Executive NDPB 0 
			 Film Industry Training Board for England and Wales Executive NDPB 0 
			 Hearing Aid Council Executive NDPB 0 
			 National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) Executive NDPB 0 
			 Simpler Trade Procedures Board (SITPRO) Executive NDPB 780 
			 Council for Science and Technology Advisory NDPB 150 
			 Industrial Development Advisory Board Advisory NDPB 0 
			 Low Pay Commission Advisory NDPB 811 
			 Regional Industrial Development Boards Advisory NDPB 0 
			 Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Advisory NDPB 0 
			 Union Modernisation Fund Supervisory Board Advisory NDPB 0 
			 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Advisory Board Advisory NDPB 0

Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance his Department has provided to the Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange partnership in the last 12 months; what assistance he plans to provide to that organisation in the next six months; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Ivan Lewis: The Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange was announced jointly by UK and Israeli Prime Ministers in July 2008. The Government have contributed £20,000 in the last 12 months. The funding given has already been put to good use, to pay for start-up costs. Representatives from the British Council and our embassy in Tel Aviv are members of the scheme's administrative committee. We intend to continue our support and have earmarked £5,000 for the current financial year.

Kosovo: Peacekeeping Operations

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's budget is for its activities in Kosovo in  (a) 2009 and  (b) 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Bryant: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)'s budget for its activities in Kosovo comprises (a) operational costs for our embassy in Pristina and (b) discretionary programme funding. In addition, the Conflict Prevention Pool and Peacekeeping Budget (separate budgets owned jointly by the FCO, Ministry of Defence and Department for International Development (DFID), with decisions on spending taken tri-departmentally, irrespective of the implementing Department) fund a range of Kosovo related activity.
	Below is a breakdown for financial years (FY) 2008-09 and 2009-10:
	
		
			   £ 
			  FY 2008-09  
			 Embassy Operational Costs 704,319 
			 FCO Discretionary Programme Funding 228,919 
			 Tri-departmental Conflict Funding 26,600,000 
			   
			  FY 2009-10  
			 Embassy Operational Costs 686,566 
			 FCO Discretionary Programme Funding 168,500 
			 Tri-departmental Conflict Funding 9,000,000 
		
	
	Activities funded by the tri-departmental conflict funding are:
	(a) discretionary spending in support of military and civilian peacekeeping missions.
	(b) conflict related programme expenditure.
	The reduction in conflict funding between FY 2008-09 and FY 2009-10 relates principally to the decision in March 2009 by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Supreme Allied Commander for Europe that the capacity provided by British troops to the NATO force in Kosovo (KFOR) could be reduced given the steady improvement of the security environment in Kosovo.
	In addition to these figures, the FCO—on behalf of the three departments—pays the UK's assessed contributions for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo, the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). We contribute 11.09 per cent. of the OSCE overall budget for field missions, equating to €3,333,687 in 2008 and €2,984,319 in 2009. The UK pays approximately 17 per cent. of the common costs of all European Security and Defence Policy missions, including EULEX. For the period from August 2009 to June 2010, the approximate UK contribution to the common costs of EULEX is £22 million. The UK contribution to common costs for UNMIK in 2008-09 were £7,508,472 and are projected to be £3,155,032 in 2009-10.
	Decisions have not yet been made on embassy operational, FCO discretionary programme or Conflict Prevention Pool allocations for 2010-11 nor have all the relevant multilateral negotiations on mission budgets taken place.
	This does not represent the total Government budget in Kosovo. For example, DFID spent £3.1 million in Kosovo in the financial year 2008-09 and funded the UK's share of assessed costs for UN agencies, the World Bank and European Commission's Instrument for Pre-Accession.

Middle East: Peace Negotiations

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the US administration on progress towards peace in the Middle East.

Ivan Lewis: The US Administration, from the President down, have made clear their commitment to restarting negotiations and continue to work towards that goal. We are offering them our full support, as my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary made clear to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on 11 October and Senator George Mitchell on 28 October 2009.
	While significant obstacles undoubtedly remain, the alternatives to credible negotiations towards a two-state solution are far worse. We believe urgent progress is essential to build confidence throughout the region.

Alcoholic Drinks: Crimes of Violence

Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps he has taken to reduce levels of alcohol-related violence.

Alan Campbell: The majority of people who drink enjoy alcohol sensibly. We are however determined to take action to reduce the levels of crime and disorder caused by those who don't. This includes commencing drink banning orders (DBO) on application on 31 August 2009 to allow the police and local authorities to crack down on those who commit criminal or disorderly behaviour while under the influence of alcohol; earlier this year we spent £3 million on targeted enforcement activities in over 190 areas, as well as a further £1.5 million on enforcement campaigns in our top 50 priority areas. This summer we launched a £1.5 million partnership support programme in our top 50 priority areas to specifically target public perceptions of drunk or rowdy behaviour by ensuring that local people's concerns are being acted upon and the results are made known to the local communities.
	Last year we ran 13 regional workshops to train around 1,300 frontline practitioners, including the police and licensing officers. We are now running a further series of two-day alcohol-enforcement training seminars in our 50 priority areas aimed at magistrates, courts officials, elected members who sit on licensing committees and operational police officers. To support these seminars we have recently published a comprehensive guide for delivery partners on alcohol-enforcement tools and powers and we have developed a digital resource pack, which has recently gone live.
	We are continuing to take forward the alcohol measures included in the Policing and Crime Bill which was introduced in December 2008. These include: A new mandatory code for the alcohol industry which will stop irresponsible promotions and practices such as "all you can drink for £10" and "women drink free"; new powers for local authorities allowing them to initiate reviews against licensed premises in their area; creation of a new offence of persistent possession of alcohol in a public place by a person aged under 18; strengthening the "persistent selling" offence from three sales to an under 18-year-old in three months to two sales in three months; removing the need for the police to show intent in existing confiscation of alcohol legislation; and amend the directions to leave powers so that a police officer can instruct any young person aged 10 and over (it is currently 16) to leave an area if they felt they would contribute to crime and disorder.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders: Berkshire

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many people under the age of 18-years were given antisocial behaviour orders in  (a) Reading East constituency and  (b) Berkshire in each year since the inception of such orders;
	(2)  how many acceptable behaviour contracts have been agreed in  (a) Reading East constituency and  (b) Berkshire in each year since the inception of such contracts;
	(3)  how many breaches of antisocial behaviour orders have  (a) been recorded and  (b) resulted in a criminal conviction in (i) Reading East constituency and (ii) Berkshire in each year since the inception of such orders.

Alan Campbell: Data on antisocial behaviour contracts is collected under the survey completed by crime and disorder reduction partnerships. Data was first collected for the period October 2003 to September 2004 and the most recent is for the period from October 2007 to September 2008. The data for Reading CDRP are broken down as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2003-04 6 
			 2004-05 21 
			 2005-06 2 
			 2006-07 4 
			 2007-08 5 
			 Total 38 
		
	
	Data broken down by constituency and county are not available antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) became available from April 1999. Data collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice on numbers of ASBOs issued showing a breakdown by age group is only available for ASBOs issued from 1 June 2000. The number of ASBOs issued in each year to persons under the age of 18 at all courts in the Thames Valley Criminal Justice System (CJS) area between 1 June 2000 and 31 December 2007 (latest available) is shown in the following table.
	Data collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice on ASBO breaches only counts those occasions where the breach was proven in court to have occurred and are available for ASBOs issued from 1 June 2000. The number of ASBOs issued at all courts in the Thames Valley CJS area subsequently proven in court to have been breached for the first time in each year during the period 1 June 200- 31 December 2007 is also shown in the table.
	It should be noted that these breached ASBOs are counted based on the year the first breach was proven in court. They include breaches by persons of all ages. Many ASBOs which are breached in a particular year will have been issued in a previous year; it is therefore not possible to compute breach rates from the figures presented this table. ASBOs may be breached more than once and in more than one year. In this table ASBOs are counted once only within the period when they were first breached.
	Data on ASBOs issued and breached collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice are not available below Criminal Justice System (CJS) area level.
	
		
			  N umber of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued to persons under 18-years of age at all courts( 1)  in the Thames Valley Criminal Justice System (CJS) area and the number proven in court to have been breached, in each year( 2) , 1 June 2000 to 31 December 2007 
			  Thames Valley  2000( 3)  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 Issued (aged 10-17) — 3 2 5 21 10 3 17 
			 Breached (all ages)(4) n/a n/a n/a 6 26 32 31 22 
			 n/a = not available. (1) This includes magistrates courts when acting both in their civil capacity issuing ASBOs on application and their criminal capacity when issuing ASBOs following conviction for a criminal offence. (2) ASBOs may be breached more than once and in more than one year. In this table ASBOs breached are counted based on the year the first breach was proven in court. Many ASBOs which are breached in a particular year will have been issued in a previous year. (3) Age details of ASBO recipients available from 1 June 2000. Breach data are from 1 June 2000. (4) ASBOs can be issued in one CJS area and breached in another. In this table breaches are counted on area of issue. Breach data for 2000—02 are not available broken down by year.  Notes: 1. Previously issued data have been revised. 2. ASBO breach data are compiled by matching records of ASBOs issued with ASBOs breached. The nature of this matching process means that previously published ASBO breach data are subject to minor revision. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source (issued): As reported to the Home Office by the Court Service.  Source (breached): Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database. Prepared by Justice Statistics Analytical Services. [Ref: ASBO 57-09, PQs 297557 and 297555].

Asylum

Neil Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for Section 4 support were  (a) considered and  (b) refused in each year since 2006.

Phil Woolas: Regularly published statistics on asylum show that in 2006 there were 6,025 decisions to grant support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. In 2007 there were 6,705 decisions and in 2008 there were 9,110 decisions.
	In 2006, 2,735 people were refused section 4 support. In 2007 the figure was 2,795 and in 2008 it was 1,290. These figures are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information. They are therefore provisional and subject to change.
	Statistics on section 4 support are published on a quarterly and annual basis. Control of Immigration 2008, is available from the Library of the House and on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics website at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html

British Nationality: Assessments

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average waiting time was for a person to take a British citizenship test in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Phil Woolas: The following tables show the current average waiting times for the Life in the UK Test.
	
		
			  Waiting times for Life in the UK tests 
			  Percentage 
			   2009 
			  Percentage of candidates taking the test within:  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December 
			 Four weeks of booking 94.02 94.77 91.16 94.74 95.41 98.45 — — — 
			 Eight weeks of booking 99.91 99.86 98.74 99.88 99.94 97.74 — — — 
			 Average waiting time (days) 14.66 14.25 14.71 14.14 14.65 13.90 — — — 
		
	
	
		
			  Percentage 
			   2010 
			  Percentage of candidates taking the test within:  January  February  March  2009-10  Target 
			 Four weeks of booking — — — 94.55 80 
			 Eight weeks of booking — — — 99.29 98 
			 Average waiting time (days) — — — 14.41 n/a

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North of 29 September 2009, reference: P 1185 I27 (CTS reference B27551/9).

Phil Woolas: holding answer 9 November 2009
	In response to the letter of 29 September 2009, the Deputy Director for Family and Economic Migration in the London and South East Region wrote to the hon. Member on 5 November 2009.

National Public Order Intelligence Unit

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department where the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) is based; who its director is; how many staff the NPOIU  (a) employs and  (b) seconds from other organisations; what its budget for 2009-10 is; to whom it is accountable; and what databases on prospective threats to public order the NPOIU (i) compiles and (ii) manages.

David Hanson: The National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) is based in central London and is headed by a Detective Superintendent who reports to the Association of Chief Police Officers' (ACPO) National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism, Assistant Chief Constable Anton Setchell. In turn he is responsible to the ACPO Committee for Terrorism and Allied Matters (TAM). For operational security reasons the identity of the head of NPOIU and the unit's precise location are not disclosed.
	NPOIU employs between 60 and 70 police officers and staff all of whom are seconded from local police forces. Its budget for 2009-10 was £5 million.
	The NPOIU database is a small intelligence database that is used to coordinate on a national basis intelligence that is collected by forces. The main purpose of the intelligence function is:
	to provide the police service with an ability to develop a national threat assessment and profile for domestic extremism;
	to support forces to reduce crime and disorder from domestic extremism;
	to support a proportionate police response to protest activity; and
	to help forces manage concerns of communities and businesses in order to minimise conflict and disorder.
	The police will always carefully balance these responsibilities with their duty to facilitate peaceful protest.

Theft: Motor Vehicles

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases there have been of thieves stealing car keys from a house then stealing the vehicle parked outside that house in  (a) the Vale of York,  (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and  (c) England in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Campbell: Supplementary data on the taking of vehicles during burglaries, often referred to as 'car key' burglaries, has only been available centrally from 2007-08. 38 of the police forces in England were able to provide figures for 2008-09.
	The available figures for the Yorkshire and Humber region show there were 3,628 offences of burglary in a dwelling involving the taking of vehicle in 2008-09 (including Humberside).
	The available figures for forces in England reveal that there were 19,190 offences of burglary in a dwelling involving the taking of vehicle in 2008-09.
	Figures for this supplementary dataset are not collected at local authority level and therefore statistics for the Vale of York are not available centrally.

Care Homes: Children

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  whether he has assessed levels of  (a) antisocial behaviour and  (b) other criminal activity by residents of privately run children's homes;
	(2)  what guidance his Department has issued to privately run children's homes on  (a) reducing and  (b) preventing (i) antisocial behaviour and (ii) other criminal activity.

Dawn Primarolo: Children's homes are required to comply with the Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and are expected to meet the accompanying National Minimum Standards. Children's homes are required to have in place a behaviour management policy, which should set out how the home will promote acceptable behaviour. Children's homes should also promote positive links between children and the local community. Ofsted inspect children's homes against these standards.
	Before placing a child in a children's home the local authority should consider how the home will address any challenging behaviour the child may display, including antisocial or criminal activity, and should make sure that the home can meet the needs of that child. No assessment has been made of the level of antisocial or criminal activity among residents in privately run children's homes.

Children: Databases

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what arrangements are in place to  (a) monitor the use of and  (b) report on (i) accidents and (ii) security breaches in respect of ContactPoint.

Dawn Primarolo: ContactPoint is designed, built, operated and managed to HM Government standards for security and complies with the strict controls imposed by HM Government security policy. Data contained within the system is made available only to those authorised users and administrators who have been subject to vetting and have completed mandatory training.
	Every access to a child's record is detailed in the audit trail and users need to state clear reasons in order to gain access to a child's record. This is regularly reviewed at local and national level to ensure that any misuse of the system is detected and investigated. If unusual activity by users is detected, suspected or reported, the local authority or national partner ContactPoint Management Team must report the incident to the DCSF immediately, suspend the user's account, notify the user's manager and carry out an immediate investigation using local policies and procedures.
	The ContactPoint system, and access to it, is constantly monitored. The security of ContactPoint is treated as the highest priority, requiring immediate response and action by the Department, the user organisation and the system supplier. Suspicious network activity is checked and, if the system was believed to be under any form of threat, or if unauthorised access to ContactPoint was detected, the Operations Director would be notified. Depending on the severity of the breach, the service provider may be instructed to prevent access to ContactPoint for all users until the incident is resolved. The appropriate persons in the Department, including the Senior Information Risk Owner, the Permanent Secretary, the Minister and the Information Commissioner will be notified as appropriate. Access to the system would not be restored until my Department had been assured that the source of attack or unauthorised or improper access had been located and all necessary mitigating actions had been taken. In the event of a security breach, a full review would take place and prosecutions would be instigated where appropriate.

Children: Protection

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what funding he has allocated to train those practitioners involved in safeguarding child victims of trafficking.

Diana Johnson: Government guidance, 'Safeguarding children who may have been trafficked', issued in 2007, makes clear that LSCBs should ensure that local training programmes for practitioners and other professionals cover trafficking issues as required, either as part of safeguarding training or as additional training. The budget for each LSCB and the contribution made by each member organisation is agreed locally. DCSF is investing over £130 million in supporting the children and families' social work workforce between 2008 and 2011.

Children's Centres

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he plans to take to ensure all parents and children are able to access their nearest Sure Start centre.

Dawn Primarolo: The Government are allocating over £1 billion a year to local authorities to support services in Sure Start Children's Centres. Our practice guidance makes it clear that parents and families should have access to the support they need irrespective of where they live. Children's centres are changing the way many parents' access essential services during their children's early years by delivering them closer to homes and in ways that suit the needs of families.
	All Sure Start Children's Centres are expected to provide outreach services to help make a real difference to families who cannot or choose not to access services, providing important information and access to services such as childcare and family support.
	In addition, we are working to improve parents' awareness of their local children's centre, including the launch in September of a national communications campaign to raise awareness of Sure Start Children's Centres among parents, with a particular focus on those living in areas of high deprivation.
	We are on track to achieve our target of at least 3,500 Sure Start Children's Centres (one for every community) by March 2010, offering access to services for all children under five and their families.

Departmental Annual Reports

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families under which budgetary heading in Table 8.4 of his Department's Annual Report 2009, pages 175-76, his Department's expenditure on  (a) the Youth of Today programme and  (b) the Travelling to School Initiative falls.

Diana Johnson: The Department's funding allocation shown aggregated in DCSF's Departmental Annual Report 2009, table 8.4, for the year 2010-11 is shown as follows:
	 (a) Youth of Today programme falls under;
	Youth Programmes—£130,000 allocated to the national youth agency and national voluntary youth agency, and
	 (b) Travelling to Schools Initiative falls under;
	Area Based Grants—£6,874,000, and
	Schools Other Miscellaneous Programmes—£300,000.

Departmental Rail Travel

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department has spent on first class train tickets for  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Diana Johnson: The spend figures for the financial year 2008-9 for first class train travel are:
	 (a) For Ministers was £8,352 and
	 (b) for officials was £3,195,655.
	Excluding Ministers, there were 17,209 first class rail tickets issued to officials for business travel.
	Staffs in grades SEO and above have a formal entitlement to fist class travel. It is departmental policy that, all staff regardless of grade, should consider in advance;
	if they need to work on the train then there may be occasions when first class travel will be less busy and noisy than standard class.
	if they intend to eat a full meal on the train and claim reimbursement they should consider whether they would get a better deal by opting for a first class package which includes meal vouchers.
	if they have a disability or a temporary condition such as a broken limb then first class travel is likely to be more comfortable.
	All Members of the Department have a responsibility to make appropriate decisions on how to travel and to secure value for money in the use of travel budgets.
	Travel by Ministers and civil servants, is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code respectively.
	The data has been provided by the department's contractor for travel booking, Carlson Wagonlit Travel.

Departmental Rail Travel

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department and its predecessors spent on first class rail travel for officials in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Diana Johnson: The data requested was for the Department for Children, School and Families (DCSF). DCSF was established under the machinery of Government changes on 28 June 2007, therefore the response covers its predecessor the Department for Education and Skills (DFES).
	First class spend for rail travel for each of the last three years is as follows.
	
		
			  £ 
			 2006-07 3,805,862 
			 2007-08 3,101,602 
			 2008-09 3,195,655

Dogs: Young People

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much the Government have spent on educating young people in responsible dog ownership in the last 12 months.

Diana Johnson: We do not hold information on how much the Government have spent specifically on educating young people in responsible dog ownership during the last 12 months.
	However, pupils in primary and secondary schools learn about animal welfare issues including understanding about the responsibility of humans to care for animals, through Citizenship Education.
	Guidance from QCDA on teaching Citizenship includes the units, 'How the law protects animals—a local-to global study' and 'Animals and Us'. Both of these resources support learning about animal welfare.

Education: Young Offenders

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much was spent  (a) in total and  (b) per inmate on education for inmates of young offender institutions in 2008-09.

Vernon Coaker: The amount of funding allocated to the LSC for the financial year 2008-09, for delivery of learning through the Offenders' Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) to young people aged 15-17 in Prison Service Young Offender Institutions in England was £19,399,065. This does not include information about additional provision outside of the scope of LSC funded provision which is not collected centrally, neither does it include funding for young adults aged 18-20 in YOIs, as this information is not easily disaggregated.
	As at 31 March 2009, the YJB commissioned 2,543 beds across the young person's prison service YOI estate, therefore on average £7,628 was allocated per bed.

Family Intervention Projects

Greg Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  what sanctions will apply to families which do not comply with the conditions of a family intervention project;
	(2)  how many family intervention projects his Department plans to undertake in  (a) 2009,  (b) 2010,  (c) 2011,  (d) 2012,  (e) 2013,  (f) 2014 and  (g) 2015.

Dawn Primarolo: While a family's involvement in a family intervention project is voluntary, the projects draw on and drive home the implications of sanctions that a family or family members may already be facing. These include seeking possession of a family's tenancy, a parenting order, antisocial behaviour order, proceedings to take children into care and juvenile specific orders.
	Every local authority has funding for at least one family intervention project and we plan to have 228 in place by the end of 2009. From April 2010 there is additional funding for further projects. The number of projects which will be established will depend on whether local authorities use this money to expand existing projects or set up new ones. However on 30 September 2009 the PM announced that 10,000 families would be supported by FIPs each year from 2011/12 onwards.

Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department has taken to assess the suitability of the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation as  (a) a school provider and  (b) an organisation receiving funds from his Department.

Diana Johnson: holding answer 2 November 2009
	The Independent Schools Standards (England) Regulations 2003, as amended, require that proprietors of independent schools must have a criminal background check conducted to confirm their suitability. In common with all other independent schools the CRB check on the proprietor of the two Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation schools in Haringey and Slough has been undertaken. Beyond this the proprietor must ensure that the school meets all the requirements of the regulations including the quality of the teaching, the spiritual moral, social and cultural development of pupils and the welfare, health and safety of pupils. Ofsted conducts regular inspections against these standards and any failings are taken up with the school to ensure they are put right.
	DCSF asked Ofsted to inspect both schools in 2007. Both were found to be meeting the standard on the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils.
	There have been follow up inspections of both institutions since and they will continue to be subject to regular inspections.
	Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation has received funding from Haringey and Slough local authority for early years free entitlement in relation to their nursery provision. In terms of free entitlement funding the Department sets the framework for how this is distributed in the statutory code of practice. All settings must meet Early Years Foundation Stage requirements. It is for local authorities to decide whether providers meet the criteria, and are therefore suitable to receive funding for the free entitlement.

Learning and Skills Improvement Service: Finance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding his Department provided to the Learning and Skills Improvement Service in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion this constituted of the total budget of the Service.

Diana Johnson: The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) was established in October 2008 and, therefore, did not receive funding prior to that. However, LSIS became operational on 1 October 2008 following the merger of the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) and the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL).
	In 2008-09 the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (then DIUS) received funding from DCSF for both those organisations mentioned above totalling £44.8 million.

Schools: Discipline

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will initiate a survey of school discipline.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 9 November 2009
	We have recently received a considerable amount of information on School discipline, so do not consider a further study necessary at this time. This information includes the recent series of reports on school behaviour from Sir Alan Steer, school inspection evidence from Ofsted and a range of surveys conducted by our partners, including teacher professional associations and the National Audit Office. In 2007/08, Ofsted judged that behaviour in 93 per cent. of primary and 72 per cent. of secondary schools was good or outstanding. On 30 September 2009 the Government launched a new Behaviour Challenge to local authorities and schools, making clear our ambition that by 2012 all schools will either have a good or outstanding Ofsted rating on behaviour, or be on track to reach one at their next inspection. The Behaviour Challenge will ensure delivery of the guarantee we made in the White Paper on 21st Century Schools earlier this year that all schools will have good behaviour, strong discipline, order and safety.

Schools: Finance

Greg Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department plans to spend on schools in each of the next five years.

Vernon Coaker: In November 2007, the Government announced the indicative budgets for the dedicated schools grant from 2008 to 2011. The indicative dedicated schools grant for 2010-11 for England is £30,959 million. The overall school revenue funding will be approximately £42.1 billion in 2010-11. We cannot confirm what the education funding settlement will be from 2011-12 onwards in advance of the next Spending Review.

Schools; Finance

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath of 9 September 2009,  Official Report, columns 1938-9, on schools: finance, which individual programmes and corresponding allocations are aggregated as  (a) children in care proposals and  (b) teenage pregnancy grant.

Diana Johnson: The information requested is as follows:
	 (a) The individual Programmes included under the heading Children in Care Proposals in the DCSF's Departmental Annual Report 2009, table 8.4, are provided in the following list:
	Fostering Change
	Recruit foster carers from a diverse range of backgrounds
	Choice Protects Topslive - fosterline contract
	In the child's trust fund, £100 per year for every child who spends the year in care.
	Independent visitors
	Social work practices
	Multi Systemic Therapy
	Family Drug and Alcohol Courts
	Virtual Head teacher and the Private Tutoring Pilots
	Social Pedagogy in residential care
	MTFC - Multi dimension Treatment Foster Care
	Right2B Cared4
	Staying with foster carers until 21
	Promote the use of Family Group Conferencing through a programme of national events and training
	Develop a training resource for practitioners drawing on the conclusions of research on the identification of neglect
	To update the guidance on Promoting the Health of looked after children, clarifying the functions and responsibilities of those involved in ensuring that children in care receive the health services they need
	National Centre for Excellence in Residential Children's Care (NCERCC) (originally from CP Topslice)
	IRO Training and support
	NMS-Non Maintained Specialist Schools
	Children Act Guidance
	Training for practitioners/governors
	Funding allocations are yet to be finalised for the programmes.
	 (b) The £2.0 million that is shown on table 8.4 under the heading Teenage Pregnancy Grant forms part of a larger amount of funding that is allocated through Area Based Grants (ABG), which amount to £27.5 million as a Department. This level of funding has been announced to local authorities (LA's) through the ABG mechanism.
	In addition to this we have a further teenage pregnancy budget within the Department totalling £5.85 million, which funds the TPG media campaign and secondment costs of Regional Teenage Pregnancy Coordinators.

Teachers: Training

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many teacher training entrants did not gain qualified teacher status within 12 months of beginning initial teacher training in each year since 1997.

Vernon Coaker: The number and percentage of final year initial teacher trainees who gained qualified teacher status (QTS) are given in the following tables. This information is available from 1998/99 onwards for college-based courses and 2001/02 for employment-based routes (EBR) and relates to initial teacher training (ITT) courses of all lengths—not just one year.
	For academic year 2008/09, 92 per cent. of postgraduate entrants and 91 per cent. of employment based entrants were on courses intended to be for one year, but only 1 per cent. of entrants to undergraduate courses were on courses intended to last one year.
	Information in the requested format could be provided only at disproportionate costs.
	
		
			  Initial teacher trainees: final year trainees gaining QTS via college based courses, years: 1998/99 to 2007/08, coverage: England 
			   ITT route 
			   Postgraduate  Undergraduate 
			Trainees gaining QTS   Trainees gaining QTS 
			   Number of final year trainees  Number  Percentage  Number of final year trainees  Number  Percentage 
			 1998/99 17,430 15,160 87.0 9,770 8,910 91.2 
			 1999/2000 17,170 14,850 86.5 7,490 6,850 91.5 
			 2000/01 18,680 16,150 86.5 7,040 6,490 92.1 
			 2001/02 19,480 16,940 87.0 6,870 6,340 92.2 
			 2002/03 21,590 19,180 88.8 6,980 6,250 89.5 
			 2003/04 24,590 21,460 87.3 6,380 5,880 92.1 
			 2004/05 25,200 21,780 86.4 6,160 5,360 87.1 
			 2005/06 25,100 21,600 86.0 6,120 5,410 88.4 
			 2006/07 24,660 21,080 85.5 6,690 5,900 88.2 
			 2007/08 23,420 20,260 86.5 7,040 6,210 88.2 
			  Notes:  1. Includes trainees from universities and other higher education institutions, school centred initial teacher training and Open universities but excludes employment based routes (EBR).  2. Those who have gained QTS does not include final year trainees who are: 'known not to have completed the course'; have 'undefined outcome'; are yet to complete their course; those with withheld QTS (including those where their skills test were not met, their standards were not met and where both their standards and skills test were not met) and those where the skills test has not been taken (including those whose standards were met and those whose standards were not met).  3. Numbers are individually rounded to the nearest 10.  Source:  TDA's Performance Profiles 
		
	
	
		
			  Initial teacher trainees: final year trainees gaining QTS via employment based routes, years: 2001/02 to 2007/08, coverage: England 
			   ITT route: 
			   Employee based routes 
			Trainees gaining QTS 
			   Number of final year trainees gain  Number  Percentage 
			 2001/02 2,440 2,210 90.7 
			 2002/03 4,030 3,670 91.1 
			 2003/04 4,950 4,470 90.4 
			 2004/05 7,220 6,600 91.5 
			 2005/06 6,970 6,090 87.5 
			 2006/07 7,840 7,120 90.8 
			 2007/08 6,990 6,510 93.1 
			  Notes:  1. Those who have gained QTS does not include final year trainees who are: 'known not to have completed the course'; have 'undefined outcome'; are yet to complete their course; those with withheld QTS (including those where their skills test were not met, their standards were not met and where both their standards and skills test were not met) and those where the skills test has not been taken (including those whose standards were met and those whose standards were not met).  2. Numbers are individually rounded to the nearest 10.  Source:  TDA 's Performance Profiles

Teachers: Training

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps  (a) his Department and  (b) the Training and Development Agency for Schools takes when Ofsted grades an initial teacher training provider at C or below.

Vernon Coaker: The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) is given the power by statute to accredit initial teacher training (ITT) providers, and in doing so it is required to have regard to the quality of providers' courses when allocating training places and funding.
	Providers inspected up to July 2008 were graded according to Management and Quality Assurance, Training and Standards. These grades are then translated into TDA Quality Categories A, B and C using agreed calculations on the permutations of grades. A Grade 3 automatically results in Quality Category C designation. Ofsted grades Initial Teacher Training (ITT) providers on the following scale: Grade 1: Outstanding; Grade 2: Good; Grade 3: Satisfactory; and Grade 4: Inadequate.
	When initial teacher training providers are placed in quality category C, they are treated less favourably for allocation purposes than training providers placed in quality categories A or B: they are not allowed to bid for additional training places and when cuts are required in the total number of training places to be allocated to all training providers, allocations to quality category C providers are reduced first.
	There are currently 15 category C providers from a total of 233 ITT providers.
	When a provider is categorised as a C provider the Agency:
	(i) Requires the provider to submit an Improvement Plan indicating actions to be taken to remedy any issues raised by Ofsted, and to indicate how it proposes to improve quality. A written evaluation of the plan is sent to the provider.
	(ii) The provider is given documentation on how to construct effective Improvement Plans—this has been preceded by consultancy support on Self-Evaluation and Improvement Planning, and a series of workshops on the topic.
	(iii) The provider is visited by the Head of Quality and Inspection at the TDA and/or one of the consultants who work in the team. The Improvement Plan is reviewed, and recommendations given for refinement and clarity, with an emphasis on securing best outcomes and impact.
	(iv) The provider submits an update on activity and achievements against the Improvement Plan each term.
	(v) The provider receives consultancy support to secure improvements to provision, and is monitored through visits by the Quality and Inspection Team.
	(vi) The provider's annual Self-Evaluation Document is reviewed in detail, and written feedback given to the provider, with tailored support and/or intervention as appropriate. This may involve the provider receiving guidance from a high quality ITT provider, a consultant or a subject/phase specialist.
	(vii) The provider automatically receives a full tariff inspection at the start of the subsequent inspection cycle.
	(viii) The TDA has a limited number of training places to allocate across the sector. As required, places are allocated on a quality basis. Therefore, where cuts are required, category C providers are first in line for reduced numbers. Decisions taken on reducing places are related to the phase and/or subjects offered. These places however, can be reinstated if the quality of provision improves.
	(ix) Where, exceptionally, a provider has received a Grade 3 in two inspections, senior representatives from the provider have met with the TDA's Head of Quality and Inspection. The provider is required to produce an Improvement Plan, and is still monitored. However, funding for support activity is curtailed. These providers have also been informed that they have a limited time to secure improvement, before the next inspection as further cuts will be initiated. Given the provider's track record, the TDA would review (taking regional and other factors into account) whether to continue allocating places to any provider which fails to achieve improvement.